Virulence characteristics of Escherichia coli isolates obtained from commercial one-week-old layer chicks with diarrhea

Thirty Escherichia coli isolates from captive and free-living pigeons in Brazil were characterised. Virulence-associated genes identified in pigeons included those which occur relatively frequently in avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC) from commercial poultry worldwide. Eleven of 30 E. coli isolates from pigeons, belonging mainly to B1 and B2 phylogenetic groups, had high or intermediate pathogenicity for 1-day-old chicks. The frequency of multi-drug resistant (MDR) E. coli in captive pigeons was relatively high and included one isolate positive for the extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) gene bla. Pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) showed high heterogeneity among isolates. There is potential for pigeons to transmit antibiotic resistant pathogenic E. coli to other species through environmental contamination or direct contact.

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Multidrug-resistant pathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from wild birds in a veterinary hospital

Borges

Beraldo

Maluta

et al. 2016

Avian Pathology

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Wild birds are carriers of Escherichia coli. However, little is known about their role as reservoirs for extra-intestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC). In this work we investigated E. coli strains carrying virulence genes related to human and animal ExPEC isolated from free-living wild birds treated in a veterinary hospital. Multidrug resistance was found in 47.4% of the strains, but none of them were extended-spectrum beta-lactamase producers. Not only the virulence genes, but also the serogroups (e.g. O1 and O2) detected in the isolates of E. coli have already been implicated in human and bird diseases. The sequence types detected were also found in wild, companion and food animals, environmental and human clinical isolates in different countries. Furthermore, from the 19 isolates, 17 (89.5%) showed a degree of pathogenicity on an in vivo infection model. The isolates showed high heterogeneity by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis indicating that E. coli from these birds are clonally diverse. Overall, the results showed that wild birds can be reservoirs and/or vectors of highly pathogenic and multidrug-resistant E. coli that have the potential to cause disease in humans and poultry.

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Virulence characteristics of Escherichia coli isolates obtained from commercial one-week-old layer chicks with diarrhea

Cited by 7 publications

References 27 publications

Characterization of avian pathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from free-range helmeted guineafowl

Characterization of avian pathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from free-range helmeted guineafowl

Captive and free-living urban pigeons (Columba livia) from Brazil as carriers of multidrug-resistant pathogenic Escherichia coli

Multidrug-resistant pathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from wild birds in a veterinary hospital

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