Bacterial pathogens from cave-dwelling bats that are a risk to human, animal and environmental health on Lombok Island, Indonesia

The aims of this study are to identify bacterial pathogens in cave-dwelling bats that are a risk to an animal, human and environmental health on Lombok Island, Indonesia. Descriptive studies were carried out in three bat caves in Lombok Island from January to March 2017. The 20 bats captured were identified as Hipposederos bicolor (n=3), Eonycteris speleae (n=12), and Taphozous achates (n=5). The samples were taken from the anal opening of live bats. Then it were dipped in sterile BHI, were incubated over the night, and then were inoculated in Blood Agar and McConkey agar under aerobic conditions. The colonies were purified and characterized by gram staining and biochemical methods. Gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria isolated were determined by standard biochemical procedures using Bergeyʼs Manual. The result of this study showed that four bacterial pathogens, including Proteus vulgaris, E. coli, Salmonella spp, and Klebsiella ozaenae were identified from the anal swabs of 20 cave-dwelling batson Lombok Island, Indonesia. These results suggest that cave-dwelling bats can transmit bacterial pathogens among cave-dwelling bats and human population on Lombok Island because of their feeding habit, long-distance travel, and aggregation colonies. So, this is a one health approach is needed to combat this problem.