Occurrence of escherichia coli in wild Guinea pigs fecal pellets from Karkas Mountain, Iran

Guinea pigs are herbivores (strict vegetarians) and have a similar digestive tract to horses, rabbits and chinchillas. Intestinal flora in their digestive tract is specialized in order to help breakdown and digest plant materials. Knowledge of the intestinal flora of this animal is important both from a public health stand point and for use guinea pigs as a model of infectious disease. In this survey, Enterobacteriaceae family role in digestive tract of guinea pigs has been identified in wild Guinea pigs fecal pellets that they live around Karakas Mountain camping. Two groups of Guinea pigs from the upper (group 1) and lower (group 2) areas of the climbers’ camp were selected. The bacterial flora of the pigs regarding the presence of Enterobacteriaceae in fecal pellets was determined by bacteriology methods. Salmonella was not isolated from none of the mentioned groups. Escherichia coli was not observed from the fecal pellets samples of group 1. In the 2nd group, E. coli was isolated from around 12% of fecal samples in the first stage and reduced to 4% in the second stage of the experiment. In spite of the fact that most of the gastrointestinal tract bacteria were transmitted through infected food and water, the results of this study indicated that climbers considered as the main source of Escherichia coli for Guinea pigs and their fecal pelts contain this bacteria for temporary period of time.