Serotyping and antimicrobial resistance profile of Salmonella spp. isolated from crocodilians in captivity

Objective. Determine the presence of Salmonella spp and the AMR in isolates of cloacal and muscle swabs in specimens of Caiman crocodilus fuscus and Crocodylus acutus in captivity, in Colombia. Materials and methods. A cross-sectional and descriptive sampling was carried out with a nonprobabilistic design for convenience, once, during the month of February 2021. 150 Caiman crocodilus fuscus and Crocodylus acutus animals were included, with a 50/50 distribution. Cloacal and muscle samples were taken with sterile swabs. These were planted on MacConkey agar, then on SS agar. These positive samples were then reconfirmed on TSI agar. Serotyping was performed with specific monovalent and polyvalent antisera. The diffusion test was performed on Mueller-Hinton agar. Results. There was no growth of colonies in any muscle sample. The presence of the bacteria in cloacal samples of Caiman crocodilus fuscus was 36% and for Crocodylus acutus 50.6%. The serotypes with the highest detection percentage in both groups were serogroup C1 and polyvalent serogroup B. Some colonies were resistant to tetracycline, while other colonies had intermediate resistance to ampicillin, cefoxitin, sulfa trimethoprim, and tetracycline. Conclusions. This is the first report related to the detection of Salmonella spp. in alligator carcasses in the country, without finding the presence of the agent in any sample evaluated, however, the importance of continuing its monitoring is emphasized to guarantee innocuous products