Study of Bacterial Flora of the Alimentary Tract of Chimpanzees

摘要

The objective of the studies conducted is to describe the major bacterial flora inhabiting the throat and rectum of 25 to 40 vivarium stabilized chimpanzees. A total of 70 rectal and 70 throat swabs were collected from 37 chimpanzees and were cultured immediately in the field for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. The data were examined with respect to (1) types of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria isolated most frequently from the throat and feces of the chimpanzees, (2) the frequency of occurrence of these bacteria in each sampling period, (3) the repeatability of the occurrence of these organisms in chimpanzees cultured more than once, (4) the correlation between throat and fecal flora in the same chimpanzee, (5) a comparison between the throat and fecal flora of the chimpanzees and other primates including man. The data show that the throat and fecal flora of the chimpanzees is composed of about 44 different aerobes and at least 25 different varieties of anaerobes. In general the same varieties of bacteria occurred in both the throat and feces, although the frequency of isolation was different and the cultures were not necessarily the same in the throat and feces of any one animal. The throat and fecal flora of the chimpanzee compares qualitatively rather closely with the human throat and fecal flora, although few bacteria not reported in human feces were found in the chimpanzee and some quantitative differences also were evident. More potentially pathogenic bacteria were isolated from the chimpanzees than from the humans and enteric bacteria were isolated from the throat of the chimpanzees more frequently than from humans. Recommendations were made for more intensive studies on the fecal anaerobes and for further work on the factors influencing the throat and fecal flora.