Survey on the Presence of Bacterial and Parasitic Zoonotic Agents in the Feces of Wild Birds
2021
Valentina Virginia Ebani | Lisa Guardone | Fabrizio Bertelloni | Stefania Perrucci | Alessandro Poli | Francesca Mancianti
Wild avifauna may act as fecal source of bacterial and parasitic pathogens for other birds and mammals. Most of these pathogens have a relevant impact on human and livestock health which may cause severe disease and economic loss. In the present study, the fecal samples collected from 121 wild birds belonging to 15 species of the genera <i>Anas, Tadorna, Fulica, Arddea, Larus, Falco, Athene, Accipiter</i>, and <i>Columba</i> were submitted to bacteriological and molecular analyses to detect <i>Brucella</i> spp., <i>Coxiella burnetii</i>, <i>Mycobacterium</i> spp., <i>Salmonella</i> spp., <i>Cryptosporidium</i> spp., <i>Giardia</i> spp., and microsporidia. Four (3.3%) animals were positive for one pathogen: one <i>Anas penelope</i> for <i>C. burnetii</i>, one <i>Larus michahellis</i> for <i>S. enterica</i> serovar Coeln, and two <i>Columba livia</i> for <i>Encephalitozoon hellem</i>. Although the prevalence rates found in the present survey were quite low, the obtained results confirm that wild birds would be the a potential fecal source of bacterial and parasitic zoonotic pathogens which sometimes can also represent a severe threat for farm animals.
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