Circulation of thermophilicin pigeons, turkeys, and humans at live bird markets in Egypt.

Abstract

Live bird markets increase the risk of transmission of zoonotic diseases. Few studies have investigated the potential zoonotic transmission ofin Egypt. Therefore, our study was carried out to investigate the presence ofspecies, mainly() and(), in pigeons and turkeys sold at poultry shops. Furthermore, the study aimed to explore the potential occupational risk ofinfection, mainly among workers at poultry shops. Six hundred (= 600) samples from various organs were obtained from pigeons and turkeys from live bird shops in the Giza and Asyut provinces in Egypt. Additionally, 100 stool samples were collected from persons working at poultry shops. Circulation of thermophilicin pigeons, turkeys, and humans was investigated based on culture and molecular methods. The rate of detection ofspecies from the samples was significant when the culture method was used alone in comparison to when it was used in combination with mPCR. The prevalence rates ofspecies detected by mPCR were 36% (20%;16%), 28% (12%;16%), and 29% (15%;14%) in pigeons, turkeys, and workers, respectively. In pigeons, significant variations in theandoccurrence rates were reported in terms of the intestinal content (15, 4%), liver (4, 13%), and skin (9, 7%), respectively. In turkeys,species were mostly detected in liver samples with a percentage of 19%, followed by the skin (12%), and the intestinal content (8%). In conclusion,species are circulating in poultry farms in Egypt and could represent a hazard for humans. It is recommended that biosecurity measures should be applied to mitigate the occurrence ofin poultry farms. Moreover, there is an urgent need to transform live bird markets into chilled poultry markets.