Abstract

In order to describe the role of wild birds and pigeons in the transmission of shiga toxigenic Escherichia coli (STEC) and enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) to humans and other animals, samples were collected from cloacae and oropharynx of free-living wild birds and free-living pigeons. Two STEC (0.8%) and five EPEC strains (2.0%) were isolated from wild birds and four EPEC strains (2.0%) were recovered from pi-geons. Serogroups, sequence types (STs) and virulence genes, such as saa, iha, lpfAO113, ehxA, espA, nleB and nleE, detected in this study had already been implicated in human and ani-mal diseases. Multidrug resistance (MDR) was found in 25.0% of the pigeon strains and in 57.0% of the wild bird strains; the wild birds also yielded one isolate carrying extended-spec-trum β-lactamases (ESBLs) gene blaCTX-M-8. The high varia-bility shown by PFGE demonstrates that there are no preva-lent E. coli clones from these avian hosts. Wild birds and pi-geons could act as carriers of multidrug-resistant STEC and EPEC and therefore may constitute a considerable hazard to human and animal health by transmission of these strains to the environment.

• Keywords: EPEC; antibiotic resistance; STEC; virulence genes; zoonotic pathogens