Bats Are Carriers of Antimicrobial-Resistant Staphylococcaceae in Their Skin

Gaeta, Natália Carrillo; Brito, João Eduardo Cavalcante; Batista, Juliana Maria Nunes; Mello, Beatriz Gagete Veríssimo de; Dias, Ricardo Augusto; Heinemann, Marcos Bryan

doi:10.3390/antibiotics12020331

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 63 publications

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“…The potential impact of antibiotic exposure via blood ingestion has not been examined in vampire bats, but there is limited evidence suggesting relevant changes. For instance, antibiotic resistant bacteria were recently reported in common vampire bats suggesting possible cross-species exchange of bacteria with livestock [16, 17]. Therefore, the common vampire bat is an ecologically relevant model to test the effect of antibiotic exposure on the immune response of wildlife.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pernicious liaisons: antibiotic-depressed immune response of a livestock micropredator, the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus)

Cabrera-Campos,

Flores,

Rivera-Ruiz

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Antibiotics are pharmaceutical products that have the potential to affect the immune performance of wildlife. Wildlife species might incorporate antibiotic residues in their system by feeding on livestock treated with these chemicals. One of the most important interactions of livestock with wildlife is that established with the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus). We used vampire bats as an ecologically relevant model to test the effect of antibiotics on wildlife immune response. We tested the effect of clindamycin on the humoral and cellular acquired immune responses of common vampire bats captured in the wild in southern Mexico. We expected that both cellular and humoral acquired immune responses would be negatively affected after bats were exposed to clindamycin for several days. We measured local inflammation and serum immunoglobulin concentration (IgG) after the repeated application of phytohemagglutinin. We expected that antibiotic-exposed bats would present a weaker inflammatory response to a second injection of PHA and that their IgG serum levels did not increase to the same rate after the third PHA injection. Antibiotic-treated vampire bats exhibited weaker inflammatory response to the repeated PHA treatment: induced swelling was ~30% larger after the second injection than that after the first injection, whereas swelling after the second injection in antibiotic-treated bats was ~10% lower than after the first injection. There was an increase of IgG serum levels following three consecutive PHA injections but it occurred only in vampires that did not receive the antibiotic: IgG serum levels of control individuals increased ~90% over pre-injection values, whereas this value was ~15% lower in vampires treated with antibiotic. Our study adds to previous evidence pointing to the negative effect that exposure to anthropogenic chemicals generates in wildlife capacity to maintain a healthy immune system and warrants further work on the relationship of potential antibiotic-induced changes in gut microbiota and immune response.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pernicious liaisons: antibiotic-depressed immune response of a livestock micropredator, the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus)

Cabrera-Campos,

Flores,

Rivera-Ruiz

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Staphylococcus haemolyticus: An updated review on nosocomial infections, antimicrobial resistance, virulence, genetic traits, and strategies for combating this emerging opportunistic pathogen

Rossi,

Ahmad,

Giambiagi-deMarval

2024

Microbiological Research

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Microbial community dynamics in blood, faeces and oral secretions of neotropical bats in Casanare, Colombia

Luna,

Páez-Triana,

Ramírez

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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Bats are known reservoirs for a wide range of pathogenic microorganisms, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, helminths, and protozoa, which can be transmitted and infect other zoonotic organisms. Various studies have utilised next-generation sequencing (NGS) to describe the pathogens associated with bats. Although most have characterised microbial communities in specific body fluids, few have analysed the composition and diversity of these microbial communities across different body fluids at the individual level. In this study, we employed two next-generation sequencing techniques: amplicon-based sequencing of the V4 hypervariable region of the 16S- and 18S-rRNA genes and viral metagenomics, to describe the prokaryotic, eukaryotic, and viral communities present in blood, faeces, and oral swab samples collected from two genera of bats (Carollia and Phyllostomus) in the department of Casanare, eastern Colombia. A total of 60 samples corresponding to the three bodily fluids were processed and analysed. The results indicated that the microbial communities across the body fluids were mainly composed of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and various DNA and RNA viruses, showing a variability of microbial genera and species. The abundances, diversity metrics, and correlations of these microorganisms displayed patterns associated with bat genus and body fluids, suggesting that the ecological characteristics of these microbial communities may be influenced by the ecological and physiological traits of the bats. Additionally, we found similar community compositions of bacteria, some fungal genera, and viruses in the three body fluids, indicating a possible circulation of these microbes within the same bat. This could be due to microbial movement from the gut microbiota to other physiological systems or transmission via blood-feeding vectors. Furthermore, our results revealed the presence of various microbes of public health concern, including Bartonella spp., Mannheimia haemolytica, Rhodotorula spp., Piroplasmida spp., Toxoplasma gondii, Alphacoronavirus spp., and Bat circovirus. The abundance of these pathogenic microbial species across the three bodily fluids suggests potential transmission routes from bats to other organisms, which may contribute to the emergence of zoonotic disease outbreaks. These findings highlight the variability of microorganisms present within the same bat and the different pathogen-host interactions that may regulate the presence and transmission of these zoonotic microbes. Further research is required to elucidate the genomic features, ecological interactions, and biological activities of these microbial communities in bats.

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Bats Are Carriers of Antimicrobial-Resistant Staphylococcaceae in Their Skin

Cited by 4 publications

References 63 publications

Pernicious liaisons: antibiotic-depressed immune response of a livestock micropredator, the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus)

Pernicious liaisons: antibiotic-depressed immune response of a livestock micropredator, the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus)

Staphylococcus haemolyticus: An updated review on nosocomial infections, antimicrobial resistance, virulence, genetic traits, and strategies for combating this emerging opportunistic pathogen

Microbial community dynamics in blood, faeces and oral secretions of neotropical bats in Casanare, Colombia

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