Indian Journal of Animal Research

  • Chief EditorK.M.L. Pathak

  • Print ISSN 0367-6722

  • Online ISSN 0976-0555

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Indian Journal of Animal Research, volume 52 issue 7 (july 2018) : 1058-1062

An investigation of sudden death in farmed infant Siamese crocodiles during winter and spring in Hainan, China

Guiying Guo, Jiahao Jiang, Nuo Yang, Peng Wang, Liling Zhang, Ying Wang, Jifeng Zeng, Jiping Zheng
1<p>Department of Biotechnology,&nbsp;Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China.</p>
Cite article:- Guo Guiying, Jiang Jiahao, Yang Nuo, Wang Peng, Zhang Liling, Wang Ying, Zeng Jifeng, Zheng Jiping (2017). An investigation of sudden death in farmed infantSiamesecrocodiles during winter and spring in Hainan, China . Indian Journal of Animal Research. 52(7): 1058-1062. doi: 10.18805/ijar.v0iOF.6999.

Sudden deaths without any specific clinical sign occurred among one year old young ones on Siamese crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis) farms in Hainan province, China, during winter and spring in 2012 - 2013. The autopsy showed that the internal organs seemed normal except full of clear ascites in abdominal cavity. There were total six bacterial species isolated, Edwardsiella tarda, Proteus penneri, Proteus vulgaris, Enterobacter asburiae, Citrobacter freundii and Micrococcus luteus from either the heart bloods or the spleens and livers. The virulence of isolated strains was tested by intraperitoneal inoculation in female Chinese edible frogs (Rana rugulosa or Hoplobatrachus rugulosus). The six-day mortality revealed that E. tarda was the most pathogenic, whereas P. penneri and E. asburiae exhibited no infection at all, and the rest demonstrated similar inconspicuous toxicity. All these findings suggest that E. tarda would be the principal suspect causing death of Siamese crocodile. The sensitivities of the E. tarda isolates were tested against 20 kinds of antimicrobial drugs. The results showed that ceftazidime, norfloxacin and amikacin were highly sensitive to the isolates of E.tarda.


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