ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2017, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (5): 922-929.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2017.05.017

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Isolation and Identification of Citrobacter freundii from the Diseased Bamboo Rats and Analysis of the Pathogenicity of the Isolate

TANG Hai-bo, CHEN Feng-lian#, RAO Gui-bo, JIANG Jia-jia, MENG Fei, BAI An-bin, WU Jian-min*   

  1. Guangxi Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, Guangxi Veterinary Research Institute, Nanning 530001, China
  • Received:2016-09-28 Online:2017-05-23 Published:2017-05-23

Abstract:

To identify the causative agent infecting the bamboo rats on a farm in the Guilin, a strain of bacterium was isolated from the liver of diseased bamboo rats. Its morphological characteristics and the results of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis proved that the pathogenic bacteria was Citrobacter freundii. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the isolate was closely related to C. freundii from a two-spotted spider mite, but it was an independent branch. In a pathogenic test, the isolate was pathogenic to adult mice, with a median lethal dose (LD50) of 2.8 ×108 CFU, and its LD50 to 10-20 days old bamboo rats was 6.3×108 CFU. Results of antibiotic susceptibility testing demonstrated that the C. freundii was highly sensitive to ceftriaxone, gentamycin, amikacin, ofloxacin, levofloxacin, and was resistant to penicillin, cefazolin, florfenicol, lincomycin, deoxycycline. Histopathological observation showed that the bamboo rat's septum alveolus widened, accompanied by inflammatory cell infiltration, and angiectasis in liver and hyperemia. Outside the integument of spleen there were a large number of necrotic cells, and the swelling and granular degeneration of the renal tubular epithelial cells. These findings suggest that C. freundii is the pathogen of the dead bamboo rats in Guilin. The pathogenicity of the isolate to bamboo rats is strong.

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