Isolation and antimicrobial susceptibility of Streptococcus canis from dogs

Abstract

Streptococcus canis is an important opportunistic pathogen that infects animals and humans. It causes various infections in dogs and cats such as arthritis, skin infections, otitis externa, septicemia, facial necrosis, and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome. It can also lead to human infections. There are still very few specific studies on the identification and antimicrobial resistance of this pathogen. In this study, the phenotypic and biochemical properties of 12 S. canis isolates obtained from the vaginal discharge of 11 dogs and the open wound of one dog with facial necrosis, and their susceptibility to some antibiotics was investigated. The phenotypic and biochemical properties of 12 isolates, such as esculin hydrolysis, hippurate hydrolysis, synergistic CAMP-like hemolytic activity, growth on Brain Heart-Infusion Agar (BHIA) containing 6.5% NaCl, and carbohydrate fermentation were investigated by conventional bacteriological methods. It was determined that all isolates were in the G group according to Lancefield serogrouping. The presence of the species-specific 16S-23S rRNA gene intergenic spacer region (ISR) and sodA int gene was also detected in all the isolates using the polymerase chain reaction method. All the isolates were detected to be susceptible to penicillin G, cefoperazone, ampicillin, and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, and resistant to gentamicin and neomycin.