The Bacterial flora of the respiratory tract of rabbits in health & disease

Lungs and trachea of 65 apparently healthy slaught-ered rabbits were examined for bacteriologicalexamination. Out of the total samples, 17 (26.15%)proved to be bacteriologically sterile.The flora of the normal samples included Staph~aureus (23~08%), haemolytic bordetella (13.84%),E~ coli (7.69%), coliforms (6~16%), Staphylococcusepider~dis(6~16%)~ Among other less common micro-organisms encountered were Sarcina lutea, Bacillusmycoids, Bacillus subtilis and yeasts, in theirorder of frequency_~Diseased samples were classified according to thedifferent breeds, 40 diseased samples were collectedfrom balady rabbits, 40 samples from hybrid breed,38 samples from flander rabbits and 32 samples fromboska rabbits with a total of 150 diseased samples.The most frequent organisms isolated from diseased lungs and trachea were Pasteurella multocida typeIII (8.67%), Streptococcus species (14.66%), Staph- ylococcus aureus (13.33%), Staphylococcus epidermidi