Yeast-like fungi from the digestive tract of Sturnus vulgaris.

Objective: Starlings are newly cities invading birds and people get worried about human health. In order to know the pathogen agents they can spread, we listed the yeasts present in their digestive tract. Methods: One hundred starlings were studied. Two sites were sampled in each one: cloaca and gizzard. Samples were cultured on Sabouraud-chloramphenicol, CHROMagar Candida(R) and Guizotia abyssinica media. CHROMagar Candida(R) medium was the best one to differentiate colonies and every morphologic type of yeast was isolated from each sample and identified by assimilation tests (API 32C(R)). Diversity in Candida albicans isolates were assessed by determining their antigenic group by Bichrolatex serotype A Candida albicans(R) method and by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (8 enzymes assayed: hexokinase, glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase, leucine aminopeptidase, malate-dehydrogenase, glucose-phosphate-isomerase, mannosephosphate-isomerase, valine-leucine peptidase and lysine-leucine peptidase). Results: Yeast-like flora is similar in cloaca and gizzard. Candida albicans was present in 60 birds and no Cryptococcus neoformans was isolated. All C, albicans isolates belonged to the antigenic group A. Isoenzyme profiles study of 60 C. albicans isolates showed that genotypic diversity is low and that the same strain is colonizing the two digestive Sites.