Subclinical pulmonary pathogenic infection in camels slaughtered in Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

Introduction: Camels migrate between the open boundaries of Sudan and Egypt either for grazing or for slaughtering. Bad hygiene and stress is often related to pulmonary diseases in camels. This study investigated whether camels slaughtered in Cairo carried pulmonary infections. Methodology: Five hundred lung tissues of slaughtered camels were examined and 100 samples suspected for pulmonary infection were subjected to microbial identification and histopathology. Results: A total of 70 lung tissues revealed 97 bacterial isolates of 8 species, including Staphylococcus aureus (37.14%), Escherichia coli (27.14%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (26.71%), Bacillus spp. (25.72%), Streptococcus pyogenes (10%), Corynebacterium spp. (8.85 %), Pasteurella spp. (2.85%), and Arcanobacterium pyogenes (1.4%). Some of these species were earlier reported to be associated with pulmonary infection. Histopathology revealed different types of pneumonia in 50% of the investigated lungs. Conclusions: A considerable number of apparently healthy camels carry pathogenic agents in their lower respiratory tracts. Immunosuppression and stressful conditions might influence these pathogens to induce respiratory diseases in camels. Thus, the infected camels might act as reservoir of these infections agents. If adequate care is not taken, this might be a threat to abattoir workers and may spread infections to humans.

Antioxidant Trace Elements and Oxidative Stress Levels Associated with Pasteurellosis in Camel-Calves (Camelus dromedarius)

“…The characters of the isolated colonies and their biochemical identification tests were in agreement with those previously reported [20]. However, in previous reports, several microorganisms including Pasteurella hemolytica were also recovered from lung of camels with pneumonic pasteurellosis [5], suggesting that other contributing factor may influence the severity of the disease.…”

“…Respiratory airway diseases are encountered as an emerging health hazards to camel population worldwide due to significant mortalities and cost of treatment and vaccination [3]. The definite etiology of most respiratory tract diseases of camels has not yet been fully determined [4,5]. Moreover, several important predisposing factors as sudden climatic changes, poor management practices, exposure to various diseases, frequent travelling and poor nutrition may influence the occurrence of such diseases [2].…”

Aerobic bacteriological studies on the respiratory tracts of apparently healthy and pneumonic camels (Camelus dromedaries) in selected districts of Afar Region, Ethiopia

“…This study has shown that a wide variety of bacterial species colonize the respiratory passageways of camels in the study area. This is supported by several researchers who previously demonstrated diverse bacterial species from various regions of the camel respiratory tract: nasal tracts, tonsil, trachea and lungs (Ismail et al 2014;Wareth et al 2014), and normal and pneumonic lungs (Wareth et al 2014;Ahmed and Musa 2015).…”

“…Streptococcus species have been isolated from clinically healthy camels although they were not definitely identified and characterized. Besides, Streptococcus species have been isolated from active respiratory disease of camels (Wareth et al 2014). But there is no data on the isolation of S. equi subsp.…”

Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles of Bacteria Isolated from the Nasal Cavity of Camels in Samburu, Nakuru, and Isiolo Counties of Kenya

“…However, the normal flora in apparently healthy camels can be altered by several factors such as bad sanitation, stress due to transportation, sudden change in feed, low herd health status, and immunosuppression. This could end up lowering the resistance of the respiratory system to infection [36]; thus, the existing nasal organisms could cause infections in the nasal cavity or end up finding their way down the system and eventually cause pathology in the lower respiratory system of the respective camels [37]. …”