Recovery of a Pathogenic Salmonella arizona from Four Snakes at the Riverbanks Zoo

Abstract

Salmonella arizona bacteremia was diagnosed in four snakes. Clinical signs were variable and ranged from animals having no clinical signs to profound lethargy. Diagnosis was based upon ante-mortem recovery of the organism from blood in all four snakes and from tissues collected post-mortem in two snakes. Pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was used to determine relatedness of the isolates. The serotype for three of the isolates was 51:Z4,Z23. The fourth isolate was genetically different from the others, but had a similar serotype (48:Z4,Z23). These S. arizona serotypes appear to be pathogenic in snakes.