Partridges and wild doves as carriers in feces of Salmonella and other Gram-negative bacilli after the application of the ISO Standard 6579-1:2017

Abstract

Red-legged partridges and wild doves are part of the hunting fauna of the island of Gran Canaria and, like many other wild birds, could carry zoonotic pathogens of public health importance such as Salmonella spp. There are no previous studies in our island on whether these birds can be carriers of this pathogen or other Gram-negative bacilli that could pose a risk to public health, which is why we have proposed the present study. We have taken 29 cloacal swabs from red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa) and 6 from wild doves (Columba livia) from different municipalities of the island of Gran Canaria. For their laboratorial study the samples were processed following the ISO 6579-1:2017 standard. The isolated strains were subjected to an antimicrobial resistance study using the disc-plate diffusion technique based on the Kirby-Bauer method and following the recommendations of the European Committee for Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST). The results obtained have shown that the birds under study are not carriers of Salmonella spp. However, 27.59 % (8/29) the red-legged partridges showed to carry Pseudomonas aeruginosa in their feces. In addition, 100% of the strains under study were found to be multiresistant to antimicrobials.