Salmonella and Antimicrobial Resistance in Wild Rodents—True or False Threat?

Abstract

Transmission of pathogenic and resistant bacteria from wildlife to the bacterial gene pool in nature affects the ecosystem. Hence, we studied intestine content of five wild rodent species: the yellow-necked wood mouse (Apodemus flavicollis, n = 121), striped field mouse (Apodemus agrarius, n = 75), common vole (Microtus arvalis, n = 37), bank vole (Myodes glareolus, n = 3), and house mouse (Mus musculus, n = 1) to assess their potential role as an antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and Salmonella vector. The methods adopted from official AMR monitoring of slaughtered animals were applied and supplemented with colistin resistance screening. Whole-genome sequencing of obtained bacteria elucidated their epidemiological relationships and zoonotic potential. The study revealed no indications of public health relevance of wild rodents from the sampled area in Salmonella spread and their limited role in AMR dissemination. Of 263 recovered E. coli, the vast majority was pan-susceptible, and as few as 5 E. coli showed any resistance. In four colistin-resistant strains neither the known mcr genes nor known mutations in pmr genes were found. One of these strains was tetracycline-resistant due to tet(B). High diversity of virulence factors (n = 43) noted in tested strains including ibeA, cdtB, air, eilA, astA, vat, pic reported in clinically relevant types of enteric E. coli indicate that rodents may be involved in the ecological cycle of these bacteria. Most of the strains represented unique sequence types and ST10805, ST10806, ST10810, ST10824 were revealed for the first time, showing genomic heterogeneity of the strains. The study broadened the knowledge on phylogenetic diversity and structure of the E. coli population in wild rodents.

A metagenomic glimpse into the gut of wild and domestic animals: Quantification of antimicrobial resistance and more

“…The choice of this group of animals, collected at forest and meadow areas, was dictated by the fact that their probable contact with human settlements was occasional and therefore the animals had little contact with antimicrobials. Both the current and our previous results confirmed these assumptions [ 72 ]. Although insight into diet composition would indicate that rodents have invaded e.g.…”

Antimicrobial Resistance Glides in the Sky—Free-Living Birds as a Reservoir of Resistant Escherichia coli With Zoonotic Potential

“…It should be emphasized that no resistance determinants toward carbapenems were noted among the tested strains, and so far, carbapenem resistance has rarely been reported in Poland in farm animals and other wildlife species ( Lalak et al, 2016 ; Wasyl et al, 2018 ; Skarżyńska et al, 2020a , b ). However, since the first report of carbapenemase-producing Salmonella Corvallis from the migratory bird—black kite ( Milvus migrans ) in Germany ( Fischer et al, 2013 ), several new studies that presented carbapenem resistance in bacteria from free-living birds were published ( Vittecoq et al, 2017 ; Bouaziz et al, 2018 ).…”

Urban rats as carriers of invasive Salmonella Typhimurium sequence type 313, Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo

“…Rodents-in particular rats-are well-known reservoirs of zoonotic pathogens including Salmonella [26]. Prevalence of Salmonella in rats has mainly been assessed in high-income countries and varied widely: in the natural environment, prevalence was consistently low (0 to 1%) [26,44,45] but is was higher in the proximity of human settlements (5-20%) such as cities and PLOS NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES layer or pig farms (up to 28%) [29][30][31][32][46][47][48][49][50]. Of note, studies also showed a high variation in Salmonella prevalence between rats in different cities; 15% in Yokohama (Japan) versus 1% in Chicago (US), 0.34% in Nairobi (Kenya) and 0% in Baghdad (Iraq) [32,[51][52][53].…”