Sheep farming has developed in recent decades; however there is still little information on the composition and pathogenic potential of cervical-vaginal flora of sheep. The purpose of the present study was to determine the main constituents of microorganisms in the cervical-vaginal flora of sheep and their antimicrobial susceptibility. Samples were taken from 60 healthy sheep belonging to herds in the region of Petrolina, Pernambuco. Bacterial isolation was performed on blood agar and MacConkey agar, and the microorganisms were identified according to morphology, Gram staining and biochemical characteristics. The samples were subjected to disk diffusion test for determination of sensitivity to the following antimicrobial drugs: sulfamethazine, enrofloxacin, doxycycline, tetracycline, penicillin, amoxicillin, cephalothin and lincomycin. We obtained 94 isolates and found a higher frequency of Staphylococcus spp., Escherichia coli and Micrococcus spp., and also observed isolates of Acinetobacter spp., Shigella spp., Enterobacter spp., Klebsiella spp. and Streptococcus spp. The isolates were highly sensitive to the antibiotics tested, with the lowest percentage of susceptibility to lincomycin. The presence of opportunistic microorganisms of a potential pathogenic microbiota, such as Staphylococcus spp. and Escherichia coli, refers to a careful analysis in the diagnosis of genital infections. The bacterial isolates obtained in this study are sensitive to most groups of antibiotics tested, demonstrating the potential use of these active ingredients, plus the availability of choice, given the lack of multidrug resistance.
Cervical-vaginal microbiota; antimicrobial sensitivity; sheep
