Candida species isolated from the gastrointestinal tract of cockatiels (Nymphicus hollandicus): In vitro antifungal susceptibility profile and phospholipase activity
Introduction
Yeasts are usual components of the gastrointestinal microbiota of birds (Mancianti et al., 2001, Melville et al., 2004, Cafarchia et al., 2006a) and it was observed that cockatiels (Nymphicus hollandicus) harbor Candida spp., Cryptococcus spp., Rhodotorula spp. and Trichosporon spp. throughout their gastrointestinal tract (Brilhante et al., in press). Captive birds may act as carriers and spreaders of potentially pathogenic yeasts for human beings and might contribute to human and animal infection (Mancianti et al., 2001, Cafarchia et al., 2006b).
The ability of yeasts to change from commensal to pathogen depends on several virulence factors, including the production of phospholipases (Costa et al., 2009), which increases adherence ability, mortality rate and host cell membrane damage (Samaranayake et al., 2005).
Surveillance programs of antifungal susceptibility profile of Candida spp. isolates from human infections are frequently performed in many countries (Pfaller and Diekema, 2007). However, surveillance of yeasts isolated from animals is rare and a few data on antifungal susceptibility profile is available.
Considering that animals can represent a source of Candida spp. infections for humans (Edelmann et al., 2005), knowing the antifungal susceptibility profile of Candida spp. isolates from cockatiels and evaluating their pathogenic potential would be of great medical importance. Therefore, this work aims at determining in vitro antifungal susceptibility profile and phospholipase activity of Candida spp. isolated from the gastrointestinal tract and stools of cockatiels.
Section snippets
Animals
Sixty apparently healthy cockatiels (N. hollandicus), from 15 different places (5 households, 4 breeders and 6 pet stores) in the city of Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil, were clinically assessed for the development of this research, which was submitted and approved (protocol number 02/09) by the Ethics Committee of Animal Research of the Federal University of Ceará.
Prior to specimen collection, cockatiels were individually evaluated, as follows. The body score was given based on the muscular mass
Results
In the present study, all evaluated cockatiels were apparently healthy and did not present any sign of systemic compromise. Through clinical examination, it was observed that most animals (43/60, 71.67%) presented two or less clinical alterations (scores 3–5). The most frequently observed altered feature was the presence of lesions in the oral cavity, which is suggestive of oral candidiasis and 21 cockatiels (35%) presented such lesions.
In terms of in vitro antifungal susceptibility testing,
Discussion
There are several researches with surveillance of antifungal susceptibility profiles for fungi isolated from human beings. However, researches with yeasts isolated from animals are scarce and no reports have been found for yeasts from birds. Thus, the discussion of our findings is based on scientific works with Candida spp. isolated from other sources, such as human beings and dogs.
In this study, all tested Candida spp., including C. krusei, were susceptible to amphotericin B, similar to what
Conclusion
Considering that animals can act as potential sources of Candida spp. infections for human beings, a special attention must be given to cockatiels, once it is here shown their role as carriers and spreaders of phospholipase producing yeasts in their gastrointestinal tract and stools. Not only these microorganisms are potentially pathogenic for humans, but they also present phenomenon of azole resistance. Therefore, owners and caretakers should be aware that these birds might represent a hazard
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by CNPq (National Scientific and Technological Research Council – process 473881/2008-0).
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