Published December 23, 2022 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Genotypic and Phenotypic Characterization of Pathogenic Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., and Campylobacter spp., in Free-Living Birds in Mainland Portugal

Creators

  • 1. National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge (INSA)
  • 2. Coimbra College of Agriculture, Polytechnic of Coimbra (ESAC-IPC); Forest Research Centre (CEF)
  • 3. Coimbra College of Agriculture, Polytechnic of Coimbra (ESAC-IPC); Espaço de Visitação e Observação de Aves (EVOA)
  • 4. Centro de Recuperação de Fauna do Parque Biológico de Gaia
  • 5. Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar (ICBAS)

Description

Birds are potential carriers of pathogens affecting humans and agriculture. Aiming to evaluate the occurrence of the top three most important foodborne pathogens in free-living birds in Portugal, we investigated 108 individual fecal samples from free-living birds and one pooled sample of gull feces (n = 50) for the presence of Escherichia coli (pathogenic and non-pathogenic), Salmonella spp. and Campylobacter spp. Virulence- and antimicrobial resistance- (AMR) associated genes were detected by PCR and Whole-Genome Sequencing (WGS), and phenotypic (serotyping and AMR profiles) characterization was performed. Overall, 8.9% of samples tested positive for pathogenic E. coli, 2.8% for Salmonella spp., and 9.9% for Campylobacter spp. AMR was performed on all pathogenic isolates and in a fraction of non-pathogenic E. coli, being detected in 25.9% of them. Ten of the tested E. coli isolates were multidrug-resistant (MDR), and seven of them were Extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) producers. Among Salmonella (n = 3) and Campylobacter (n = 9), only one strain of C. jejuni was identified as MDR. Most of the identified serotypes/sequence types had already been found to be associated with human disease. These results show that free-living birds in Portugal may act as carriers of foodborne pathogens linked to human disease, some of them resistant to critically important antimicrobials.

Files

Genotypic and phenotypic characterization of pathogenic E. coli, Salmonella and Campylobacter in free-living birds in mainland Portugal_Dez 2022_OHEJP DISCOVER.pdf

Files (422.1 kB)

Additional details

Funding

One Health EJP – Promoting One Health in Europe through joint actions on foodborne zoonoses, antimicrobial resistance and emerging microbiological hazards. 773830
European Commission