Subclinical pulmonary pathogenic infection in camels slaughtered in Cairo, Egypt

Camels migrate between the open boundaries of Sudan and Egypt either for grazing or for slaughtering. Bad hygiene and stress is often related to pulmonary diseases in camels. This study investigated whether camels slaughtered in Cairo carried pulmonary infections.

Five hundred lung tissues of slaughtered camels were examined and 100 samples suspected for pulmonary infection were subjected to microbial identification and histopathology.

A total of 70 lung tissues revealed 97 bacterial isolates of 8 species, including Staphylococcus aureus (37.14%), Escherichia coli (27.14%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (26.71%), Bacillus spp. (25.72%), Streptococcus pyogenes (10%), Corynebacterium spp. (8.85 %), Pasteurella spp. (2.85%), and Arcanobacterium pyogenes (1.4%). Some of these species were earlier reported to be associated with pulmonary infection. Histopathology revealed different types of pneumonia in 50% of the investigated lungs.

A considerable number of apparently healthy camels carry pathogenic agents in their lower respiratory tracts. Immunosuppression and stressful conditions might influence these pathogens to induce respiratory diseases in camels. Thus, the infected camels might act as reservoir of these infections agents. If adequate care is not taken, this might be a threat to abattoir workers and may spread infections to humans.