Abstract
Enterococci were obtained from the feces of 71% of 216 mammals, 86% of 70 reptiles, and 32% of 22 birds sampled in a truly wild environment, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Patterns of food dependence and also of species dependence were observed. Among the lower classes of the primarily herbivorous mammals, the enterococci occurred sporadically; however, of the six species of Sciuridae, the gray squirrel, and of four species of Cricetidae, the red-backed mouse, the enterococci appear to be natural hosts. The enterococci were not obtained from most specimens of moles, shrews, or rabbits but they were obtained from most specimens of bats and from the carnivorous mammals, such as fox, bear, raccon, skunk, and boar. Streptococcus faecalis was obtained from 12 reptiles, and a caseolytic variant was obtained from 37 specimens of the reptiles. The strongly reducing, tellurite-tolerant species, S. faecalis, its caseolytic variant, and S. faecalis var. zymogenes were isolated from 127 or 41% of 308 specimens cultured. S. faecium was recovered from 87 or 28% of the animals, chiefly from the wild boar (60 of 64 trials) and the black bear. S. zymogenes was obtained from 1 of 31 bats, 3 of 12 raccoons, and 1 of 3 owls.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- BARNES E. M. Tetrazolium reduction as a means of differentiating Streptococcus faecalis from Streptococcus faecium. J Gen Microbiol. 1956 Feb;14(1):57–68. doi: 10.1099/00221287-14-1-57. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- BARTLEY C. H., SLANETZ L. W. Types and sanitary significance of fecal Streptococci isolated from feces, sewage, and water. Am J Public Health Nations Health. 1960 Oct;50:1545–1552. doi: 10.2105/ajph.50.10.1545. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- EICHEL H. [A contribution to gastrointestinal flora in the domesticated pigeon]. Zentralbl Bakteriol Orig. 1961 Jun;182:201–210. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- GUTHOF O. Streptokokken und Dysbakterie-Problem. Zentralbl Bakteriol Orig. 1957 Nov;170(1-5):327–333. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- HAENEL H., MULLER-BEUTHOW W. Vergleichende quantitative Untersuchungen über Keimzahlen in den Faeces des Menschen und einiger Wirbeltiere. Zentralbl Bakteriol Orig. 1956 Nov;167(2):123–133. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Ostrolenk M., Hunter A. C. The Distribution of Enteric Streptococci. J Bacteriol. 1946 Jun;51(6):735–741. doi: 10.1128/jb.51.6.735-741.1946. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- TUGGLE J. M., WHITE J. B., LOMAX J. H., DUNCAN H. E. A simplified method of maintaining bacteria in stock culture. Med Techn Bull. 1958 Sep-Oct;9(5):215–216. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]