Detection of Enterobacteriaceae, antimicrobial susceptibility, and virulence genes of Escherichia coli in canaries (Serinus canaria) in northeastern Brazil

Abstract

This study aimed to verify the presence of members from the Enterobacteriaceae family and determine antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of the isolates in canaries bred in northeastern Brazil; in addition, the presence of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) and avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) was also verified in these birds. Samples were collected during an exhibition organized by the Brazilian Ornithological Federation in July 2015 in Fortaleza, Brazil. A total of 88 fecal samples were collected and submitted to pre-enrichment step using buffered peptone water, followed by enrichment with the following broths: brain-heart infusion, Rappaport-Vassiliadis, and Selenite-Cystine. Subsequently, aliquots were streaked on MacConkey, brilliant green and salmonella-shigella agar plates. Colonies were selected according to morphological characteristics and submitted to biochemical identification and antimicrobial susceptibility tests with disk-diffusion technique. E. coli strains were evaluated for the presence of eight DEC genes and five APEC genes through conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) screening. The most frequent species observed were Pantoea agglomerans (25%), Serratia liquefaciens (12.5%), and Enterobacter aerogenes (9.1%). A single rough strain of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica was identified in one sample (1.1%). High resistance rates to amoxicillin (78.7%) and ampicillin (75.4%) were identified. Polymyxin B (9.8%), gentamycin (6.6%), and enrofloxacin (6.6%) were the most efficient antibiotics. The total number of multidrug-resistant strains (isolates resistant to more than three antimicrobial classes) was 23 (37.7%). Four E. coli strains were tested for the virulence genes, and two were positive for APEC virulence genes: one strain was positive for iutA and the other for hlyF. In conclusion, canaries in northeastern Brazil participating in exhibitions may present Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli and other enterobacteria in the intestinal microbiota with antimicrobial resistance. These results indicate that, although the E. coli strains recovered from canaries in this study have some virulence genes, they still do not fulfill all the requirements to be considered APEC.

Zoonotic bacteria research and analysis of antimicrobial resistance levels in parrot isolates from pet shops in the city of Fortaleza, Brazil

“…P. agglomerans has been identified as a possible cause of disease in vertebrate animals, but compared to humans, there are only a few reports of infections in this group (Dutkiewicz et al 2016). Commonly found in nature, especially in plants, water, soil, and animals (Delétoile et al 2009), this bacterium has also been isolated in clinically healthy poultry, being the most isolated in that study, with 25% positivity (Beleza et al 2019).…”

Antimicrobial susceptibility profile of enterobacteria isolated from wild grey-breasted parakeets (Pyrrhura griseipectus)

“…In addition, it also occurs in vertebrates and invertebrates, but its clinical importance in animals is almost unknown (Dutkiewicz et al 2016). Despite limited information about its occurrence in birds, P. agglomerans have been reported in healthy captive passerines, Psittaciformes, and other freeliving bird orders (Lopes et al 2015Beleza et al 2019, Carreira 2019. Gerlach et al (1994) clarified that it is likely that the isolation of this microorganism in poultry feces can be related to the consumption of seeds containing this bacterium.…”

Wild birds as reservoirs of multidrug-resistant enterobacteria in Mulungu, Brazil

“…Despite the isolation of fourteen different species of bacteria, birds were not necessarily suffering from any pathological condition. In addition to the low frequency of isolation, some of these microorganisms may occur naturally in these birds, considering that these strains have been isolated previously from healthy birds either in the wild or in cages [40,41,42,43,44,45,30]. Species of the Enterobacteriaceae family, Escherichia coli in particular, do not belong to the intestinal microbiota of granivorous pet birds, because feed composed exclusively of seeds has been shown to provoke an inhibitory effect of this bacterial species [46].…”