A first report on the microbial colonisation of the equine oesophagus

The diverse spectrum of bacteria found indicated a permanent mucosal flora, predominated by facultative and obligate anaerobic species. The genera isolated most frequently and in highest numbers included streptococci, Prevotella spp., Fusobacterium spp. and Actinobacillus equuli. Only two groups of Enterobacteriaceae (Escherichia coli, Pantoea spp.) were regularly found and their abundance was lower than that of the other bacterial groups mentioned above. Yeasts were very rarely identified as the typically present fungi.