Antibiotic resistant zoonotic bacteria in Irrawaddy squirrel (Callosciurus pygerythrus)

Abstract

Irrawaddy squirrel ( Callosciurus pygerythrus ) may play an important role in the transmission of zoonotic bacteria, but little is known about the carriage of zoonotic bacteria in this common frugivorous rodent in Bangladesh. We aimed to investigate the presence of common zoonotic bacterial pathogens in Irrawaddy squirrel in the southeast part of Bangladesh. A total of 27 rectal and 27 oro‐nasal swabs were collected from 27 healthy wild Irrawaddy squirrels. Four common zoonotic bacteria were isolated following routine laboratory procedures, and were identified based on colony morphology, and biochemical and staining properties. The pathogenic potential of the identified bacteria was confirmed by detection of virulence genes by PCR . All isolates were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility test against seven antibiotics from six generic groups which are commonly used in human and veterinary medicine in Bangladesh. The prevalence of Escherichia coli , Salmonella spp., Yersinia spp. and Staphylococcus spp. was 44.4% (95% CI , 32.0–57.6), 13% (95% CI , 6.1–24.7), 44.4% (95% CI , 32.0–57.6), and 72.2% (95% CI , 59.0–82.5), respectively. We identified potential zoonotic virulence genes in all of these four bacterial species. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing revealed the presence of several multidrug resistant bacterial strains in squirrels. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report in Bangladesh of the detection of antibiotic resistant zoonotic bacteria in Irrawaddy squirrels. The findings underpin the role of Irrawaddy squirrel as a source of pathogenic antibiotic resistant bacteria, consequently, fruit rejected because of squirrel consumption and squirrel‐bites deserve more concern than previously.

Glucocorticoids coordinate changes in gut microbiome composition in wild North American red squirrels

“…Salmonella are rod-shaped, Gram-negative bacteria that can cause gastroenteritis in both rodents and humans upon infection 66 . Similarly, Yersinia (including Y. pestis, Y. pseudotuberculosis, and Y. enterocolitica) are commonly harbored in the gut microbiota of wild rodents and can lead to enteric and systemic disease 54 , 67 , though we note there is currently no evidence of Yersinia disease in our population. While a loss of these taxa with increasing GCs contradicts theoretical expectations of pathogen susceptibility as microbial diversity decreases, our findings align with a prior study in free-living birds in which elevated GCs similarly reduced the relative abundance of intestinal pathogens 24 , and in piglets in which GCs reduced Salmonella , specifically 68 .…”

Glucocorticoids coordinate changes in gut microbiome composition in wild North American red squirrels

“…Salmonella are rod-shaped, Gramnegative bacteria that can cause gastroenteritis in both rodents and humans upon infection [66]. Similarly, Yersinia, which includes Y. pestis, Y. pseudotuberculosis, and Y. enterocolitica, are commonly harbored in the gut microbiota of wild rodents and lead to enteric and systemic disease [54,67], though we note there is currently no evidence of Yersinia disease in our population. While a loss of these taxa with increasing GCs contradicts theoretical expectations of pathogen susceptibility as microbial diversity decreases, our findings align with a prior study in free-living birds in which elevated GCs similarly reduced the relative abundance of intestinal pathogens [24], and in piglets in which GCs reduced Salmonella, specifically [68].…”

Antimicrobial resistance situation in animal health of Bangladesh

“…The wild Irrawaddy squirrels also harbored ABR E. coli , Staphylococcus , and Yersinia spp. All the antibiotic-resistant bacteria isolated from wild Irrawaddy squirrels showed resistance against amoxicillin, tetracycline, colistin sulfate, sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, and cephalexin [ 51 ].…”

“…Besides E. coli, milk of mastitis-affected cows was also a source of antibiotic-resistant Bacillus, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Klebsiella, Enterobacter, and Shigella spp. which developed resistance against several antibiotics (Table -2) [17][18][19][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54]. In a study of bovine subclinical mastitis milk, S. aureus isolates showed the highest resistance to oxytetracycline (74.5%), followed by oxacillin (55.9%), ciprofloxacin (49.6%), amoxicillin (42.0%), trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (30.0%), and to a less extent to gentamicin (17.9%), penicillin (11.0%), and erythromycin (8.2%) [46].…”