Uncommon Non-Candida Yeasts in Healthy Turkeys-Antimicrobial Susceptibility and Biochemical Characteristic of Trichosporon Isolates.

The microbiota of the gastrointestinal tract of humans and animals is inhabited by a diverse community of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses. In cases where there is an imbalance in the normal microflora or an immunosuppression on the part of the host, these opportunistic microorganisms can cause severe infections. The study presented here evaluates the biochemical and antifungal susceptibility features of Trichosporon spp., uncommon non-Candida strains isolated from the gastrointestinal tract of healthy turkeys. The Trichosporon coremiiforme and Trichosporon (Apiotrichum) montevideense accounted for 7.7% of all fungi isolates. The biochemical tests showed that Trichosporon coremiiforme had active esterase (C4), esterase-lipase (C8) valine arylamidase, naphthol-AS-BI phosphohydrolase, α-galactosidase, and ß-glucosidase. Likewise, Trichosporon montevideense demonstrated esterase-lipase (C8), lipase (C14), valine arylamidase, naphthol-AS-BI phosphohydrolase, α-galactosidase, and ß-glucosidase activity. T.coremiiforme and T. monteviidense isolated from turkeys were itraconazole resistant and amphotericin B, fluconazole, and voriconazole susceptible. Compared with human isolates, the MIC range and MIC values of turkey isolates to itraconazole were in a higher range limit in both species, while MIC values to amphotericin B, fluconazole, and voriconazole were in a lower range limit. Furthermore, the obtained ITS1-5.8rRNA-ITS2 fragment sequences were identical with T. coremiiforme and T. montevideense sequences isolated from humans indicating that these isolates are shared pathogens.

E-test Determination of Antifungal Susceptibility of Candida Species Isolated from Turkeys.

INTRODUCTION: Candida species are a natural component of the intestinal tract microflora, but in favourable conditions they can cause superficial, mucosal, or even systemic candidiasis. Poultry production might be a source of human drug-resistant yeast infections, including Candida spp. The limited data concerning the antifungal susceptibility of poultry Candida isolates prompted us to carry out research to determine the susceptibility of isolates from turkey intestinal tracts. METHOD AND MATERIALS: The beak cavity, crop and cloaca were swabbed of 580 turkeys from 58 flocks in western Poland. The susceptibility tests were conducted using the E-test method with amphotericin B, fluconazole, itraconazole, and voriconazole on 52 isolates of C. albicans, C. catenulata, C. glabrata, C. palmioleophila, C. rugosa, C. krusei and C. lusitaniae. RESULTS: All isolates were susceptible to voriconazole. According to the MIC values obtained for amphotericin B and fluconazole, all Candida spp. isolates were classified as susceptible according to the described breakpoints except for C. krusei, which was the only isolate that was amphotericin B-, fluconazole- and itraconazole-resistant. The susceptibility to itraconazole varied: 11 of the Candida isolates were susceptible (21.1%), 29 were dose-dependently susceptible (55.8%), and 12 isolates were resistant (23.1%). CONCLUSION: There are few resistant strains of Candida in turkeys, and the drug resistance varies. When Candida passes from turkeys to humans, there is a wide range of antifungal treatment options.

The Prevalence of Yeast and Characteristics of the Isolates from the Digestive Tract of Clinically Healthy Turkeys.

This study was undertaken to explore the issue of yeast species prevalence in colonizing the gastrointestinal tract of healthy turkeys. The samples were collected from the beak cavity, crop, and cloaca of 5-wk-old turkeys, cultured and classified using morphological, biochemical, and genetic analysis based on ITS1-5.8rRNA-ITS2 fragment sequencing. Out of all the samples, 12.4% were yeast positive. The highest number of strains, 50% of the total collected, were isolated from the crop, with 30.8% coming from the beak cavity and 19.2% from the cloaca. The most frequently isolated yeast belonged to Candida species (88.5%), followed by Trichosporon (7.7%) and Rhodotorula (3.8%). The most prevalent species was Candida catenulata (30.7%), followed by Candida albicans (21.7%), Candida palmioleophila (17.4%), Candida rugosa (17.4%), and Candida glabrata (8.7%). The present study, showing the prevalence of yeast species of the gastrointestinal tract, is a stepping stone to investigating the physiological mycobiota of turkeys' gastrointestinal tract.