Microbial Quality and Molecular Identification of Pathogenic Bacterial Strains Collected from Raw Camel's Milk in Taif Region

Sixty-four samples of raw camel's milk were collected from Jia, Oshera, Bani-Sa'ad and Al-Roduv at Taif area in different seasons. They were analysed for microbial quality. Molecular and biochemical identification for all isolated pathogenic bacteria were done. Total bacterial, yeasts and moulds counts increased significantly in summer, while they decreased in winter. The total viable counts of bacteria, yeasts and molds in Jia were 2.9 × 10⁵ and 1.7 × 10² during Summer and 1.34 × 10⁵ and 0.31 × 10² in winter, respectively. In Al-Roduv they were 0.9 × 10⁵ and 0.94 × 10² in Summer, 0.65 × 10⁵ and 0.64 × 10² in winter, respectively. The ribosmal 16S rDNA gene was completely sequenced for the isolated strains and their sequences were used with their counterparts of other related taxa to molecularly identify the isolated strains. The selected pathogenic bacteria were identified as Proteus mirabilis, Escherishia coli, Serratia nematophila and Bordetella petrii based on their morphological, biochemical and molecular characterisation. They represent 25, 35.93, 9.37 and 18.75 per cent of the total microbial count, respectively.