Salmonella infection in birds kept in parks and pet shops in Tehran, Iran

Salmonellosis is one of the most important zoonotic diseases worldwide. Salmonella infections in wild birds are reported frequently. The objectives of this study were to isolate Salmonella serovars from a large collection of samples obtained from pet birds in Tehran, Iran, and then to determine the serotypes and antimicrobial susceptibility profile of the isolates. Between October 2007 and August 2008, 668 samples from 24 different species were collected from birds kept in parks and pet shops of Tehran. Samples contained cloacal swabs from large birds, freshly-dropped feces from small birds and, infrequently, carcasses. Multiple samples from the same bird were pooled and considered as an individual sample. All samples were cultured for the isolation and identification of Salmonella serovars according to standard procedures. Serotyping was performed by slide agglutination test to determine the O and H antigens of the isolates. The antimicrobial susceptibility of the isolates was determined to a panel of 30 antimicrobial agents using the agar disc diffusion method. In total, 19 Salmonella isolates (2.8%) were identified. Samples that were positive for Salmonella originated from canaries (10 out of 62, 16.1%), pigeons (5 out of 139, 3.6%), psittacines (3 out of 130, 2.3%), and eagles (1 out of 2, 50%). All Salmonella isolates were susceptible to danofloxacin, norfloxacin, levofloxacin, amikacin, gentamicin, and tobramycin. Resistance to other antibacterial agents was variable and ranged from 0-57.9%. There were 17 resistance patterns among the isolates. Serotyping identified nine isolates (47.3%) as serogroup B, six isolates (31.5%) as serogroup C, and four isolates (21%) as serogroup D. The findings of this study showed the presence of Salmonella infection among captive birds. Due to the close contact between these type of birds and humans, these findings present an important risk for public health.