Bacteriological isolation and identification were performed on 60 cloacal swabs and 15 aquarium water samples of pet red-eared sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans) obtained from aquarium shops in the Klang Valley, Central Peninsula Malaysia. The most common bacteria isolated was Aeromonas spp., which was present in both cloacal swabs (70%) and aquarium water (86.7%). Klebsiella spp. (50%), Escherichia coli (33.3%), Yersinia spp. (16.7%) and Salmonella spp. (15%) obtained form cloacal swabs were identified as pathogenic to both humans and animals. Salmonella spp. were isolated from both cloacal swabs and aquarium water. The Salmonella serotypes identified were S. tennessee, S. typhimurium, S. brezany, S. pomona, S. corvallis and S. schwarzengrund. Bacterial infections in humans associated with handling exotic pets directly or indirectly in contact with aquarium water have been described regularly, hence the zoonotic significance of owning a turtle infected with Salmonella spp. or any pathogenic bacteria therefore cannot be ignored.
Forty-eight canine mammary tumours (CMT) diagnosed at the Histopathology Laboratory, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine,
Universiti Putra Malaysia, were reviewed retrospectively. Two control groups, one comprising all other cases involving female dogs
and another group comprising only cases of neoplasia involving female dogs diagnosed in the laboratory over the same period of
time were used for comparisons in this study. Fisher’s exact test and logistic regression were used to determine association between
the factors and the risk of CMT. Thirty-nine (81.3%) of the tumours were diagnosed as adenocarcinoma, 8.3% (n=4) each, were the
diagnoses for squamous cell carcinoma and mixed cell tumour. Adenoma had 2.1% (n=1). The prevalence of canine mammary gland
tumours in this study is 39%. When CMT cases were compared with all other cases, significant association was observed with adult
dogs (p = 0.032, logistic regression 0.012) and intact dogs (p = 0.009, logistic regression, 0.003). When CMT cases were compared
with neoplasia cases, significant association was observed with pure breeds (p = 0.025) and intact dogs (p = 0.000034, logistic
regression 0.00042). This study found that pure breed dogs, intact dogs and older dogs ( > 5years) have higher odds of having CMT
in Malaysian dog population.