1. Assessing the role of livestock and sympatric wild ruminants in spreading antimicrobial resistant Campylobacter and Salmonella in alpine ecosystems.
- Author
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Espunyes J, Cabezón O, Dias-Alves A, Miralles P, Ayats T, and Cerdà-Cuéllar M
- Subjects
- Animals, Animals, Wild, Anti-Bacterial Agents, Cattle microbiology, Horses microbiology, Sheep microbiology, Spain epidemiology, Campylobacter isolation & purification, Drug Resistance, Microbial, Livestock microbiology, Rupicapra microbiology, Salmonella isolation & purification
- Abstract
Background: Livestock play an important role as reservoir of enteric pathogens and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a health and economic concern worldwide. However, little is known regarding the transmission and maintenance of these pathogens at the wildlife-livestock interface. In this study, we assessed the occurrence, genetic diversity and AMR of Campylobacter spp. and Salmonella spp. shed by sympatric free-ranging livestock and a wild herbivore in an alpine ecosystem., Results: Campylobacter spp. was isolated from 23.3 % of cattle and 7.7 % of sheep but was not isolated from horses nor Pyrenean chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica). Campylobacter jejuni was the most frequent species. A high genetic diversity and certain host specificity of C. jejuni isolates was observed. The main AMR detected in Campylobacter isolates was to nalidixic acid (88.2 %), ciprofloxacin (82.4 %) and tetracycline (82.4 %); only 11.7 % of the isolates were pan-susceptible and 17.6 % were multi-resistant. Salmonella ser. Newport was isolated only from one Pyrenean chamois and was pan-susceptible., Conclusions: Results show that free-ranging cattle and sheep are spreaders of Campylobacter as well as their AMR strains in the alpine environment. Therefore, contaminated alpine pastures or streams may constitute a source for the dissemination of AMR enteropathogens. However, apparently, alpine wild ungulates such as Pyrenean chamois play a negligible role in the epidemiology of zoonotic enteropathogens and AMR, and are not potential bioindicators of the burden of alpine environments.
- Published
- 2021
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