Occurrence of Enteropathogenic Bacteria in Urban Pigeons (Columba livia) in Italy

Abstract

This study was aimed at evaluating the prevalence of Campylobacter spp., Escherichia coli O157, Salmonella spp., and related virulence factors (the cdt, stx, and eae genes) in urban pigeons of the coastal area of the Campania region (southern Italy). To achieve this goal, cloacal swab samples from a total of 1800 urban pigeons were collected and subjected to culture methods, PCR, and serotyping. The results of the present study showed a prevalence of 48.3% (870/1800), 7.8% (141/1800), and 0.9% (16/1800), for C. jejuni, E. coli O157, and S. Typhimurium, respectively. All C. jejuni isolates (870/870) carried cdt genes, whereas all E. coli O157 isolates carried stx genes, and 14.9% (21/141) carried the eae gene. These findings clearly show that urban pigeons in the coastal area of the Campania region may constitute an environmental reservoir of these pathogens, thus representing a source of infection for other birds, livestock, and humans.

Antimicrobial susceptibility and diarrheagenic diagnosis of Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica isolated from feral pigeons (Columba livia) captured in Fortaleza, Brazil

“…Low frequencies of diarrheagenic E. coli have been identified in feral pigeons (Morabito et al 2001, Pedersen et al 2006, Gargiulo et al 2014. However, different pathotypes have been identified recently in Brazil and ETEC prevalence was 7.1% (Silva et al 2009).…”

“…However, free-living birds may host resistant strains and this microbial species is frequently isolated from feral pigeons with variable levels of antimicrobial resistance (Silva et al 2009, Dutta et al 2013b). In addition, considering that, diarrheagenic E. coli strains have been isolated from feral pigeons (Morabito et al 2001, Gargiulo et al 2014, the proximity of these birds with humans could be a risk for the public health. Therefore, this study aimed to isolate and evaluate antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella enterica and Escherichia coli strains from feral pigeons (Columba livia) captured in Fortaleza, Brazil.…”

A scoping review on the prevalence of Shiga‐toxigenic Escherichia coli in wild animal species

“…Previous studies investigated the prevalence of STEC among urban exploiter species such as rats (Himsworth et al, ) or pigeons (Gargiulo et al, ; Kobayashi, Pohjanvirta, & Pelkonen, ; Murakami et al, ; Silva, Nicoli, Nascimento, & Diniz, ). Likewise, other wild animal species have been investigated such as deer (Asakura et al, ; Carrillo‐Del Valle et al, ; Dunn, Keen, Moreland, & Alex, ) and gulls (Makino et al, ).…”

Seabirds (Laridae) as a source of Campylobacter spp., Salmonella spp. and antimicrobial resistance in South Africa

“…The occurrence of Campylobacter and Salmonella in aquatic environments (Levantesi et al, 2012;Pitk€ anen, 2013) and in wildlife reservoirs is well documented (Hilbert et al, 2012;Greig et al, 2015). A wide variety of birds, including raptors, waterfowl, crows, pigeons and gulls, have been reported as asymptomatic carriers of these zoonotic agents (Molina-Lopez et al, 2011;Gargiulo et al, 2014;Antilles et al, 2015;Jurado-Tarifa et al, 2016;Konicek et al, 2016), with their risk of infection linked to their opportunistic feeding habits and their proximity to farms or livestock pastures (Ramos et al, 2010;Hald et al, 2016). Although some Campylobacter and Salmonella strains display an important host-specificity (Heithoff et al, 2008;Griekspoor et al, 2013), many strains or serovars infectious to humans are adapted to a generalist lifestyle (e.g., certain C. jejuni and C. coli strains or Salmonella serovars Typhimurium and Enteritidis) and have a broad-host range (Hoelzer et al, 2011;Dearlove et al, 2016).…”