Isolation of Actinomyces pyogenes from fistula in an Elephant

Abstract

Received on 6 May 2000 Accepted on 1 June 2000 An elephant was admitted with abscess and fistula behind the right ear lobe following an accident, to the Veterinary College and Research Institute, Namakkal. The pachyderm was previously treated by a local veterinarian for two weeks without much improvement. Pus material was collected to identify the organism and for antibiotic sensitivity test. The sample was inoculated in nutrient broth and Roberston’s cooked meat medium (Himedia) and further streaked on to various selective media like MacConkey agar, Tryptose soy agar, Potassium tellurite agar, Mannitol salt agar, Sabouraud’s dextrose agar, and Cetrimide agar and incubated at 37C. It was also streaked on anaerobic egg agar (Himedia) and kept in an anaerobic jar with Hi indicator and Hi Gas Pack (Himedia) and incubated at 37C. Growth on the medium were further subcultured to isolate pure colonies and biochemical tests were done to identify up to species level following Bergey’s manual of determinative bacteriology (Breed et al., 1974).