Aerobic bacterial organisms in oral cavities of hunting dogs could infect bite wounds. Oral swabs from hunting dogs in rural communities located in a south western state of Nigeria were collected and investigated for aerobic bacteria. Sixty two samples examined yielded a total yield of 101 aerobic bacterial isolates belonging to 12 genera. The species of bacteria detected included Bacillus spp, Pseudomonas spp, Staphylococcus spp, Streptococcus spp, Aeromonas spp, Burkholderia spp, Citrobacter spp, Escherichia spp, Enterobacter spp, Pasteurella spp, Burkholderia spp, Shewanella spp and Vibrio spp. Susceptibility of all identified isolates to antimicrobial agents was determined by the standard Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. In all, the isolates showed resistance to ampicillin (90.1%), chloramphenicol (79.2%), ciprofloxacin (33.7%), enrofloxacin (42.6%), gentamicin (74.4%), nalidixic acid (82.2%), neomycin (80.2%), norfloxacin (42.6%), penicillin (75.2%), sulphamethoxazole (91.1%), streptomycin (88.1%), tetracycline (90.1%), amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (55.4%). This study reinforces the need for dog bite wound microbial culture and antimicrobial sensitivity test as isolates showed varied antimicrobial susceptibility patterns. The oral cavities of hunting dogs are laden with multi-drug resistant bacteria of significant public health importance that could be transferred to humans through contaminated hunted games and bite wound.
Key words: Aerobic bacteria, Antimicrobial resistance, Dogs, Oral cavity, Public health
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