Fungal flora in the mouth of venomous and non-venomous snakes

详细信息    查看全文

• 作者：Rouhullah Dehghani ; Alireza Sharif ; Mohammad Ali Assadi…
• 关键词：Fungal contamination ; Mouth ; Venomous snakes ; Non ; venomous snakes
• 刊名：Comparative Clinical Pathology
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：November 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：25
• 期：6
• 页码：1207-1211
• 全文大小：277 KB
• 刊物类别：Medicine
• 刊物主题：Medicine & Public Health
  Pathology
  Hematology
  Oncology
  
• 出版者：Springer London
• ISSN：1618-565X
• 卷排序：25

文摘

Mortality as a direct result of venomous snake bites is estimated to be in the thousands worldwide per year. However, while venom may be the primary mortality vector, snake oral cavities can also contain significant pathogens capable of causing infection in bite victims. This study was conducted to identify potentially pathogenic fungal flora in the oral cavities of venomous and non-venomous snakes. Sterile swabs were used to retrieve samples from the oral cavities of different snakes followed by medium-specific culture. Slide culture technology was also used in the identification of fungal flora. Rhizopus and Mucor represented the most common fungal flora each making up 29 % of the total. Alternaria, Cladosporium, Aspergillus and Candida represented a significantly smaller portion of fungal pathogen load at around 3 % each. Fungi, Yeast (19.4 %) and Penicillium (9.7 %), were also identified in the retrieved samples. Our results indicate that both venomous and non-venomous snakes carry a significant fungal pathogenic load in their oral cavities. Therefore, fungal infection should be considered, in addition to toxicity, especially in snake bite victims with immune deficiency.