Mylniczenko Natalie D, Harris Brigita, Wilborn Rachel E, Young Forrest A
John G. Shedd Aquarium, 1200 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605, USA.
J Aquat Anim Health. 2007 Sep;19(3):159-67. doi: 10.1577/H06-039.1.
Blood culture is a diagnostic tool used in confirming bacterial disease in teleostean and elasmobranch fishes. Unlike teleosts, elasmobranchs have a normal microflora in multiple organs, but their blood has generally been considered to be sterile. In regular exams of elasmobranchs conducted at a public aquarium, occasional blood samples have tested positive on culture. This finding prompted a blood culture survey of healthy captive and wild elasmobranchs (sharks and stingrays), which showed that 26.7% of all animals were positive. Stingrays alone showed a 50% occurrence of positive blood cultures, although the total number of animals was low and freshwater species were included in this number. When elasmobranchs other than stingrays were evaluated according to metabolic category, pelagic animals had a higher percentage of positive cultures than nonpelagic animals (38.7% versus 13.9%). These results indicate that a single positive blood culture without other corroborating diagnostics is not sufficient to confirm septicemia in elasmobranchs.
血液培养是一种用于确诊硬骨鱼和软骨鱼细菌性疾病的诊断工具。与硬骨鱼不同，软骨鱼多个器官中存在正常微生物群，但一般认为它们的血液是无菌的。在一家公共水族馆对软骨鱼进行的常规检查中，偶尔有血液样本培养检测呈阳性。这一发现促使对健康的圈养和野生软骨鱼（鲨鱼和黄貂鱼）进行血液培养调查，结果显示所有动物中有26.7%呈阳性。仅黄貂鱼的血液培养阳性率就达50%，不过动物总数较少，且这一数字中包括淡水种类。当根据代谢类别对黄貂鱼以外的软骨鱼进行评估时，远洋动物的培养阳性率高于非远洋动物（38.7%对13.9%）。这些结果表明，在没有其他确证诊断的情况下，单次血液培养阳性不足以确诊软骨鱼败血症。
