Streptococcus troglodytidis sp. nov., isolated from a foot abscess of a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes)

Natural pathology of the captive chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes): A 35-year review

We present the spontaneous pathological lesions identified as a result of necropsy or biopsy for 245 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) over a 35-year period. A review of the pathology database was performed for all diagnoses on chimpanzees from 1980 to 2014. All morphologic diagnoses, associated system, organ, etiology, and demographic information were reviewed and analyzed. Cardiomyopathy was the most frequent lesion observed followed by hemosiderosis, hyperplasia, nematodiasis, edema, and hemorrhage. The most frequently affected systems were the gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, urogenital, respiratory, and lymphatic/hematopoietic systems. The most common etiology was undetermined, followed by degenerative, physiologic, neoplastic, parasitic, and bacterial. Perinatal and infant animals were mostly affected by physiologic etiologies and chimpanzee-induced trauma. Bacterial and physiologic etiologies were more common in juvenile animals. Degenerative and physiologic (and neoplastic in geriatric animals) etiologies predominated in adult, middle aged, and geriatric chimpanzees.

Streptococcus hongkongensis sp. nov., isolated from a patient with an infected puncture wound and from a marine flatfish

A bacterium, HKU30T, was isolated from the infected tissue of a patient with wound infection after puncture by a fish fin. Cells are facultative anaerobic, non-spore-forming, non-motile, Gram-positive cocci arranged in chains. Colonies were non-haemolytic. The strain was catalase, oxidase, urease and Voges–Proskauer test negative. It reacted with Lancefield’s group G antisera and was resistant to optochin. It grew on bile aesculin agar and in 5 % NaCl. It was unidentified by three commercial identification systems. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that the bacterium shared 98.2, 97.7, 97.4 and 97.1 % nucleotide identities with Streptococcus iniae , Streptococcus pseudoporcinus , Streptococcus parauberis and Streptococcus uberis , respectively. The DNA G+C content was 35.6±0.9 mol% (mean±sd). In view of the occupational exposure of the patient, an epidemiological study was performed to isolate the bacterium from marine fish. Two strains, with similar phenotypic and genotypic characteristics to those of HKU30T, were isolated from a three-lined tongue sole (Cynoglossus abbreviatus) and an olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) respectively. Phylogenetic analysis of four additional housekeeping genes, groEL, gyrB, sodA and rpoB, showed that the three isolates formed a distinct branch among known species of the genus Streptococcus , being most closely related to S. parauberis (CCUG 39954T). DNA–DNA hybridization demonstrated ≤53.8 % DNA relatedness between the three isolates and related species of the genus Streptococcus . A novel species, Streptococcus hongkongensis sp. nov., is proposed. The type strain is HKU30T ( = DSM 26014T = CECT 8154T).