Bacterial Sepsis Associated with a Captive State Caused by Edwardsiella tarda in a Eurasian Brown Bear (Ursus arctos arctos)

Edwardsiella (E) tarda belongs to the Enterobacteriaceae family and is a motile, gram-negative, rod-shaped, facultative anaerobe regarded as an opportunistic and food-borne pathogen in animals and humans. A 21-year-old male Eurasian brown bear (Ursus arctos arctos) died suddenly without any preliminary signs. Necropsy performed according to standard protocol revealed swollen abdomen with hemorrhagic congestions of the gastroenteric organs, ascites, and hemorrhagic exudates around the mouth. The liver showed discolor-ation, along with a severely swollen and multiple hemorrhages of the spleen, an elongated gallbladder, and a congested cortex and medullar lesion of kidneys. The stomach contained semi-liquid exudates and undigested chicken exuding a decayed odor. The stomach membranes were dark-gray in color with several cysts in the fundus lesions. Rod-shaped bacteria were found in the major organs by Giemsa staining, identified as E. tarda using a biochemical rapid diagnostic identification kit.