Aerobic Bacterial-Flora of the Conjunctivae of Phascolarctos-Cinereus (Koala)

Abstract

In all, 122 conjunctival swabs were examined from 37 koalas. Of this group, 6 animals were examined twice at a 5-month interval, 6 were examined weekly for 4 weeks, and the remainder were examined on a single occasion. Aerobic culture of the swabs did not reveal any one species of organism associated either with the undiseased eye or with eyes exhibiting clinical signs of keratoconjunctivitis. Enterobacter cloacae was consistently isolated from one case of blepharitis over a 4-week period.