Abstract
Many diseases – including bacterial and fungal infections – can affect the skin of the interdigital spaces of alpacas. Culture and susceptibility testing may be required for appropriate diagnosis and treatment of these conditions. To date, no information is available on the bacterial and fungi isolated from the feet of healthy alpacas. A prospective study was conducted on two groups of alpacas, each containing 15 animals from one farm, but housed separately. One front and one rear foot was sampled from each animal. Skin samples were collected with sterile swabs and placed in culture media. Cultures were submitted to a laboratory for aerobic and anaerobic bacterial and fungal cultures. Twenty-one species of aerobic bacteria, five species of anaerobic bacteria and 12 species or categories of fungi were isolated from 60 samples. Hence, in the absence of cytological or histopathological correlates, culture results must be cautiously interpreted.
