Antibiotic resistance profiles of oral flora in hippopotami (Hippopotamus amphibius): implications for treatment of human bite wound infections

This study provides the first investigation of the oral flora bacteria of the common hippopotamus. Among the 32 mostly aerobic bacterial genera the most abundant bacterial species were A. hydrophila, A. sobria and S. putrefaciens. They are typical inhabitants of the aquatic habitat of the hippopotamus and of zoonotic importance as opportunistic human pathogens. The antibiotic susceptibility profiles demonstrated that quinolones, aminoglycosides, and tetracyclines were highly efficacious against these bacterial species which otherwise showed moderate to high levels of resistance to the traditional bite wound treatment with amoxicillin/clavulanate and 1st and 2nd generation cephalosporins.