Biomedical subjects

Susan Heaney

Publications and source records attributed to Susan Heaney.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Bacterial flora of free-living double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) chicks on Prince Edward Island, Canada, with reference to enteric bacteria and antibiotic resistance.

Cloacal and pharyngeal swabs from 100 tree-nesting Double-crested cormorant (DCC) chicks were examined by culture for commensal and potentially pathogenic bacteria. No Salmonella or Erysipelothrix were isolated from the cloacal swabs. Twenty-two cloacal swabs were positive for Campylobacter, of which 14 were C. jejuni, C. coli, and 1 C. lari. None belonged to common serotypes isolated from humans or animals in recent years in Canada. Tests for antimicrobial drug resistance among 187 commensal Escherichia coli isolates from the cloacal swabs indicated that < or =5% were resistant to any of the 12 antibiotics tested. This contrasts with the frequently high resistance rates among E. coli isolates from poultry. Pharyngeal swabs from DCC were negative for Pasteurella multocida. Culture of cloacal swabs from 100 ground-nesting DCC chicks resulted in the recovery of 19 Salmonella isolates, all of which were S. enterica serotype Typhimurium. None of these isolates were resistant to any of the 12 antibiotics tested. Altogether, these findings suggest that DCC from this region are not being colonized with commensal or potentially pathogenic enteric bacteria from agricultural or human sources and that enteric bacteria isolated from these birds are unlikely to contribute to a gene pool of antimicrobial drug resistance.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Sphygmomanometers--an audit in general practice.

BACKGROUND: The accuracy of sphygmomanometers used in Australian general practice is unknown but potentially important. METHOD: We measured the accuracy of sphygmomanometers in general practice in the Hunter region of New South Wales using a gold standard. Practices were recruited by an advertisement in the division newsletter. RESULTS: Sixty practices (35%) volunteered. A total of 404 instruments were checked. Over 95% of sphygmomanometers were within 4 mmHg of gold standard sphygmomanometer across the clinical pressure range. Mercury sphygmomanometers were more accurate than aneroid (p<0.01). There was no significant association between accuracy and age, calibration, or visual inspection of the instruments. DISCUSSION: This study demonstrated a high accuracy rate of the sphygmomanometers checked, especially those sphygmomanometers that were mercury.

Equipment Failure↗

PubMed2003

Effects of diet formulations containing proteins from different sources on intestinal colonization by Campylobacter jejuni in broiler chickens.

The objective of this study was to compare the effects of 3 diet formulations containing different protein sources (animal, plant, and a combination of animal and plant) on the colonization of Campylobacter jejuni in the gastrointestinal tract of broiler chickens. A freshly isolated strain of C. jejuni (biotype IV, serotype HS O:21, O:29, HL untypable) from a broiler chicken was used to infect 3-day-old chicks that had been free of C. jejuni; 0.5 mL of an inoculum containing 10(8) colony-forming units was administered orally. Shedding of the organism was studied, and C. jejuni in the ceca, jejuni, and crop were enumerated by quantitative culture. The isolates recovered from the birds during the study period of 35 d were characterized and confirmed as C. jejuni by the use of standard methods and underwent biotyping, serotyping, antimicrobial susceptibility testing by disk diffusion and the E-test, and flagellin gene typing. A cyclical pattern of shedding of C. jejuni was observed in all the birds. Colonization was highest in the ceca. The ceca of birds receiving plant-protein-based feed had significantly less colonization then the ceca of birds receiving the other types of feed, whereas the differences in colonization of the jejuni and crops were not significant. Characterization by biotyping, serotyping, and flagellin gene typing showed that 95% of the recovered isolates were identical to the strain used for infecting the chicks. However, with the Lior-HL typing scheme, 74% of the recovered isolates were HL untypable. Antimicrobial resistance testing did not reveal significant differences between the infecting strain and the recovered isolates among the different feed groups.

Administration, Oral↗