Screening of potential human pathogens from the ghost crab, Ocypode platytarsis (H. Milne Edwards, 1852) and evaluation of antibiotic resistance

Bacteria associated with hemolymph, gut and muscle of Ocypode platytarsis were investigated using three different agar media such as seawater yeast extract peptone agar, zobell marine agar and nutrient agar. Among them, sea water yeast extract peptone agar provided an excellent growth opportunity to the bacteria and showed higher counts. A total 117 bacterial isolates were obtained from 40 ghost crabs representing totally 9 bacterial species, comprising of the Gram-positive coccus, Gram-negative bacilli, Gram-positive rod and Gram-negative rod. Micrococcus was the dominant genus found in all parts of ghost crab, O. platytarsis. Further, the antibiotics such as chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin and gentamycin showed excellent susceptibility against all the bacterial species, whereas the bacterial strain isolated from the crab are resistant to amoxicillin, nalidixic acid and oxacillin. Results indicate that the bacteria associated with O. platytarsis are considered as potential human pathogens and some of the isolates were resistant to antibiotics.