spp. in Wild Free-Living Birds from Atlantic Forest Fragments in Southern Bahia, Brazil.

Abstract

Wild animals have an ecological function and can serve as sentinels to identify infectious agents and as indicators of environmental health. Among the zoonotic pathogens,spp. deserve special attention due to their high worldwide prevalence and their ubiquity of hosts. With the aim of investigating the presence ofspp. in wild birds from the Atlantic Forest in southern Bahia, Brazil, we collected 114 fecal samples of wild birds (14 families) between 2016 and 2017. Fecal samples were collected by means of cloacal swab and subjected to microbiological culture to isolate and serotypespp. specifically. Antibiotic susceptibility was determined using the disk diffusion test protocol. Only one bird,, tested positive forsubsp.serotype Agona, which is the first record for this bird species. This isolate exhibited intermediate sensitivity to amikacin and gentamicin and sensitivity to the other 13 antibiotics tested. Results may indicate environmental preservation since the studied areas had minimal human activity and good sanitary quality. Despite the low prevalence, it is necessary to monitor wildlife and establish disease control and surveillance systems, especially for zoonotic diseases.