EVALUATION OF THE CONJUNCTIVAL BACTERIAL FLORA IN 140 RABBITS (Oryctolagus cuniculus) FARMED IN SICILY ISLAND

Normalconjunctival flora of animal eyes comprises of both bacterial and fungal organisms. Bacterial and fungal species isolated from healthy conjunctiva appear to vary with geographic location, as well as is influenced by age, sex, housing, and climate. The aim of this work was to evaluate the bacterial flora of the conjunctiva of rabbits from intensive livestock farming in SicilyIsland, comparing differences in the isolation of bacteria, and evaluating the potential zoonosis risk for humans related to the bacterial species isolated. 140 rabbits of Californiaand New Zealandbreeds were examined, while 280 eyes swab were obtained. Isolation techniques, biochemical and enzymatic tests were performed. Statistical analysis performed shown that the zoonotic risk is statistically not significant. A 4% of Moraxella spp., 9% of Staphylococcus spp., 5% of Pasteurella multocida and 9% of Staphylococcus aureus were isolated on eye swabs. In the examined area may be excluded a human-health risk related to isolated pathogens, both because of low percentage of isolations and for small number of involved farms. Further investigations are necessary to continuous monitor the related epidemiological risk. Key words: rabbit; microbiology; eye; Sicily Island OCENA BAKTERIJSKE FLORE OČESNIH VEZNIC 140 KUNCEV (Oryctolagus cuniculus) GOJENIH NA SICILIJI V normalni flori veznice živalskih oči so bakterijski in glivični mikroorganizmi. Bakterijske in glivične vrste, izolirane iz zdravih veznic, se spreminjajo z geografsko lokacijo, nanje pa vplivajo tudi starost, spol, način reje živali in podnebje. Namen dela je bil oceniti bakterijsko floro veznic kuncev intenzivne reje na Siciliji ter primerjati razlike v izolaciji bakterij in ocenjevanju potencialnih tveganj za obolevanje ljudi, povezanih z najdenimi bakterijskimi vrstami. Pregledanih je bilo 140 kuncev kalifornijske in novozelandske pasme in tako je bilo pridobljenih 280 očesnih brisov. Opravljeni so bili izolacija mikroorganizmov ter biokemijski in encimski testi. Statistična analiza je pokazala, da je tveganje za pojav zoonoz zelo majhno. Iz brisov očes so bili izolirani v 4 % Moraxella spp., v 9 % Staphylococcus spp., v 5 % Pasteurella multocida in v 9 % Staphylococcus aureus. V proučevanem območju se lahko izključi nevarnost za zdravje ljudi, povezano z izoliranimi patogeni, tako zaradi nizkega odstotka izolacij kot majhnega števila vključenih rej. Nadaljnje raziskave so potrebne za nadaljevanje spremljanja, povezanega z