PREVALENCE OF SPECIES, AND IN THE FECES OF HEALTHY ELEPHANTS ( SPECIES AND ) IN EUROPE.

Pathogenic spp., and have been reported to infect and cause severe enteritis and enterotoxemia in African ( spp.) and Asian elephants (). However, little information exists on whether healthy elephants carry and possibly shed these gastrointestinal organisms. This study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of all three bacteria in feces from healthy elephants in European zoos. Bacterial identification was performed by selective culture on fecal samples and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification protocol, on the basis of primers targeting the A gene ( spp.), the gene (), and the gene () from deoxyribonucleic acid extracted from elephant feces. The PCR protocol was validated prior to initiation of the investigation. Fecal samples collected from 50 African and 86 Asian elephants originating from 30 European zoologic institutions were investigated. The PCR validation revealed detection limits ranging from 10 to 10 colony-forming units per gram of feces of each gene. Only (one type A and two type E) was detected in the initial sampling (2.2%, three Asian elephants), whereas no spp. or was detected. At a follow-up sampling from -positive animals and relatives, 2 mo after the initial sampling, three animals were culture positive for spp. . All positive samples were obtained with bacterial culture, whereas no PCR reactions were positive. Despite carrying these pathogens, all culture-positive animals were clinically healthy and did not develop signs of gastrointestinal disease during the study period. The findings indicate that prevalence of spp., , and in feces from healthy Asian and African elephants in Europe is very low.