This study aimed to isolate and identify members of the Enterobacteriaceae that were present in domestic ducks (Cairina moschata) from properties located in four cities in the State of Ceará, Brazil. Therefore, 65 stool samples and 47 cloacal swabs were collected from farms located in the following cities: Fortaleza, Boa Água, Eusébio and Cascavel. The samples were submitted to bacteriological processing. In pre-enrichment, all of the stool and swab samples were cultured in buffered peptone water 0.1%. For selective enrichment, aliquots from the tubes of the prior step after incubation were transferred to tubes containing Rappaport-Vassiliadis and Selenite Cystine broths. Plates with MacConkey and Brilliant Green agars were streaked with the content from the enrichment tubes after incubation. Colonies were chosen based on their morphological characteristics for the biochemical tests (TSI: Triple-Sugar-Iron; LIA: Lysine-Iron-Agar; and SIM: Sulfide-indole-motility). The bacteria were identified based on their biochemical characteristics. The mostly isolated bacteria were Citrobacter sp., Proteus sp., and Enterobacter sp. In a lower frequency, isolated enterobacteria were Klebsiella sp., Hafnia sp., Escherichia coli, Edwardsiella sp., Providencia sp. and Serratia sp. With the methodology applied, no Salmonella was isolated from the evaluated ducks, which is a genus commonly associated with this avian species; however the microbiota were composed by the main enterobacteria that are common to other species of birds, some of which are potentially pathogenic both to animals and humans.
Salmonella ; Escherichia coli ; birds
