B C J De Silva, Sabrina Hossain, S H M P Wimalasena, H N K S Pathirana, Mitchell Wendt, Gang-Joon Heo
Turtle-borne owns significance as a leading cause in human salmonellosis. The current study aimed to determine the quinolone susceptibility and the genetic characteristics of 21 strains of subsp. isolated from pet turtles. Susceptibility of four antimicrobials including nalidixic acid, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, and levofloxacin was examined in disk diffusion and MIC tests where the majority of the isolates were susceptible to all tested quinolones. In genetic characterization, none of the isolates were positive for or genes and no any target site mutations could be detected in , , and quinolone resistance determining regions (QRDR). In addition, neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree derived using gene sequences exhibited two distinct clads comprising; first, current study isolates, and second, quinolone-resistant isolates of human and animal origin. All results suggest that studied strains of subsp. isolated from pet turtles are susceptible to quinolones and genetically more conserved with regards to gene region.
