Biochemical characteristics and antibiotic resistance of bacterial isolate from Ctenocephalides felis

Abstract

Cats are the most domesticated animals kept by humans in the world. Cat fleas are ectoparasites that have the potential to transmit disease caused by microbes in humans. Biochemical identification research and antibiotic resistance tests have been carried out against bacterial isolates from cat fleas. Cat fleas were isolated from cats in Manado City, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Isolation of bacteria was conducted using the scratch method on nutrient agar media. The pure bacterial culture is then used for biochemical analysis and antibiotic resistance testing. Biochemical analysis and resistance tests were performed using the Vitec 2 Compact instrument with a standardized automatic analysis model. The results obtained three species of bacteria from cat fleas based on biochemical identification, namely S. equorum, C. freundii, and Pantoea spp. Antibiotic resistance test on S. equorum showed that of the 60 types of antibiotics used, 55 were sensitive and 7 were resistant. Furthermore, C. freundii, of the 18 types of drugs, 7 were sensitive and 11 were resistant. Meanwhile, in Pantoea spp., Sensitive and resistant drugs were not found. However, the results of this study prove that bacteria from cat fleas have the potential to infect humans with relatively high antibiotic resistance.