Bacterial flora of clinically normal conjunctivae in the domestic duckling

Abstract

A total of 100 eyes from newly hatched and young domestic ducklings were swabbed and the bacterial flora determined by standard bacteriological culture methods. Of the total number of bacteria isolated, 57% were gram negative suggesting that the majority were derived from the intestinal flora. Only 2% of the eyes sampled showed no bacterial growth. The bacterial species most commonly cultured were Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Acinetobacter anitratus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, non-haemolytic Streptococci, micrococcus spp., a-haemolytic Streptococci and Acinetobacter lwoffii. More than one bacterial species was found in the majority of eyes. A. anitratus was isolated almost exclusively from 1 day old ducklings while A. lwoffii was mainly isolated from pen-reared ducklings. Chlamydia psittaci was not isolated from any of the conjunctivae sampled.