Salmonella and Arizona in reptiles and man in Western Australia

Abstract

SUMMARY: 1. Ninety-seven (83.6%) of 116 reptiles, comprising 70 lizards, 40 snakes, 4 tortoises and 2 crocodiles, yielded isolations of organisms in the Salmonella and/or Arizona groups.2. The reptiles were captive or free-ranging; the former were drawn from all states of mainland Australia, while the latter were from West Australia only.3. The relative prominence ofSalmonellaserotypes containing numerically highsomatic antigens, the finding of newserotypes, of multiple infections, and of strains in subgenera II and III was remarked.4. The lack of evidence of differences in the serotypes isolated from captive or wild reptiles (except for the isolation ofS. typhimuriumin creatures closely associated with man and his domestic fauna), and the apparent absence of a specific geographical distribution of serotypes in reptiles, lent support to the con clusion that reptiles provide a natural reservoir forSalmonellaand Arizona strains in Australia. The possible spill-over to man, his domestic animals and his food stuffs is discussed.It is a pleasure to record our indebtedness to Dr Joan Taylor for her continuous interest and support in providing confirmation and identification of manySalmonellaserotypes; to Dr W. H. Ewing and later Dr R. Rhode for serotyping the Arizona strains; to Dr G. M. Storr, Curator of Reptiles in the Museum of Western Australia, for identifying the reptiles and to Dr W. S. Davidson, Commissioner of Public Health, Western Australia, for permission to publish.