Pathogenic bacteria and the prevalence of virulence genes in E. coli isolated from passerine birds of Iran

Iranian Journal of Animal Biosystematics

دوره 20، شماره 1 - شماره پیاپی 36، مهر 2024، صفحه 11-22   

نوع مقاله: Research articles

شناسه دیجیتال (DOI): 10.22067/ijab.2024.81990.1053

نویسندگان

Maliheh Mousavinezhad¹؛ Mohammad Reza Sharifmoghadam^{* 2}؛ Mansour Aliabadian^{* 3}؛ Masoumeh Bahreini²؛ Jonas Waldenström⁴

¹Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.

²Research Department of Zoological Innovations, Institute of Applied Zoology, Faculty of Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

³FerdowsiResearch Department of Zoological Innovations, Institute of Applied Zoology, Faculty of Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran University of Mashhad

⁴Centre for Ecology and Evolution in Microbial Model Systems, Linnaeus University, SE-391 82 Kalmar, Sweden

چکیده

Wild birds as source of pathogenic microorganisms infecting livestock and humans are an interesting topic that has received increased attention in recent years. Here we study occurrence of pathogenic bacteria in birds in north-east Iran with focus on to identifying virulence gene in wild and domestic birds. Wild birds were trapped and sampled in different localities in north-east Iran from April to September in 2018 and 2019. From 184 birds representing 32 species of wild passerine birds, potentially pathogenic bacteria were isolated from 171 samples (92.9). Escherichia coli was the most frequently isolated bacterium with a prevalence of 70.1%, followed by Enterobacter spp. (53.8%) and Salmonella spp (3.2%) isolated from 129, 99 and 6 wild birds, respectively. In total 79.6% of the isolates carried virulence factors. A higher frequency of virulence genes was detected in domestic birds (88.6%) than in wild birds (76%). The results showed that birds in north-east Iran can serve as a potential source of bacterial pathogens and virulence factors that may cause disease in both humans and birds. Furthermore, our results introduce new host birds as source of pathogenic microorganisms that can carry and disseminate them in the environment.

کلیدواژه‌ها

Cloacal swabs؛ Pathogen؛ E. coli؛ virulence gene؛ Wild bird