MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 12 clinically healthy crossbred Boer female goats were divided into three groups; A, B and C (4 goats each per group). Group A was inoculated with 2 ml sterile phosphate buffered saline via intradermal route as the negative control group whilst Group B was inoculated with 2 ml of MA extract (1 g/ml) intradermally and Group C was then inoculated with 2 ml (1×10(9)) colony forming unit of active C. pseudotuberculosis intradermally. Blood sample was collected aseptically from the jugular vein periodically for complete blood count (CBC) analysis throughout the experimental period (3 months).
RESULT: A significant decrease (p<0.05) was observed in red blood cells, hemoglobin (Hb), packed cell volume, mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular Hb concentration in Groups B and C as compared to the control while WBCs, neutrophil, lymphocyte and basophil showed a significant increase (p<0.05) as compared to the control.
CONCLUSION: The inoculation of C. pseudotuberculosis and MA resulted in a significant change in the CBC, thereby, indicating that MA has a role in caseous lymphadenitis pathogenesis.
RESULTS: Out of 270 grouper samples, 195 (72%) were detected with the presence of Vibrio spp. Vibrio communis showed highest prevalence in grouper (28%), followed by V. parahaemolyticus (25%), V. alginolyticus (19%), V. vulnificus (14%), V. rotiferianus (3%), Vibrio sp. (3%), V. campbellii (2%), V. mytili (2%), V. furnissii (2%), V. harveyi (1%), V. tubiashii (1%), V. fluvialis (0.3%) and V. diabolicus (0.3%). Assessment on the antibiotic susceptibility profiles of the Vibrio spp. revealed that majority of the isolates were susceptible to tetracycline, streptomycin, erythromycin and bacitracin, but resistance to ampicillin, penicillin G and vancomycin. The mean MAR index of the Vibrio isolates was 0.51, with 85% of the isolates showed MAR index value of higher than 0.2. Results indicate that the Vibrio spp. were continuously exposed to antibiotics. Furthermore, the plasmid profiles of Vibrio spp. showed that 38.7% of the isolates harbored plasmid with molecular weight of more than 10 kb, while 61.3% were without plasmid. During curing process, Vibrio spp. lost their plasmid, but remained resistant to ampicillin, penicillin G, bacitracin and vancomycin while a few isolates remained resistant to erythromycin, streptomycin and tetracycline. The results suggested that the resistance to antibiotics in isolated Vibrio spp. might be due to chromosomal and plasmid borne.
CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the prevalence of Vibrio spp. in groupers and the distribution of multidrug resistance strains that could be of concern to the farmers in Malaysia. In addition, data from this study can be further used in fish disease management plan.