Prevalence of Salmonella spp. isolated from seagulls and pigeons in Barcelona, Spain and its genetic relatedness with Salmonella human clinical isolates

IF 4 3区医学 Q1 INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Journal of Infection and Public Health Pub Date : 2025-08-21 DOI:10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102933

Andrea Vergara , Tomás Montalvo , Sara Sabaté , José Luis Villanueva-Cañas , David Vilanova , Raquel Planell , Ignasi Roca , Clara Ballesté , Juan Carlos Hurtado , Jordi Figuerola , Raquel González , Jordi Vila

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

A better understanding of Salmonella epidemiology at the human-wildlife interface, emphasizing the importance of One Health strategies in controlling zoonotic disease transmission is needed. This study aimed to investigate the epidemiological relationship between Salmonella spp. isolated from wild-living birds and human patients in Barcelona, Spain.

Methods

The presence of Salmonella spp. was tested in faecal samples of young specimens of Yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis, n = 129), Audouin's gull (Ichthyaetus audouinii, n = 97), and pigeon (Columba livia, n = 324) specimens. Similarly, 36 isolates of S. enterica serovar Typhimurium were collected from human patients. The isolates were characterised by chromosomal DNA analysis using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) or whole-genome sequencing.

Results

All Salmonella isolates recovered from the bird samples were identified as S. enterica serovar Typhimurium with an overall prevalence of 3.1 % (17/550). Twelve isolates were recovered from 129 Yellow-legged gulls (9.3 %), 3 from 97 Audouin's gulls (3.1 %), and 2 from 324 pigeons (0.6 %). In total, 25/36 (69.5 %) human and 9/17 (52.9 %) bird samples were identified as monophasic species. The PFGE strain typing results with XbaI grouped S. Typhimurium monophasic isolates into eight different clusters. Three pairs of strains (one from a human and one from a seagull) were subjected to whole-genome sequencing. All strains belonged to the same sequence type (ST34), and sequencing data confirmed that all strains analysed corresponded to the monophasic variant of S. Typhimurium and that both 13_13995 (Audouin's gull isolate) and 14_28806 (human isolate) strains were different in only 4 SNPs. The following acquired resistance genes were found in sequenced strains: aph(3'')-Ib, aph(6)-Id, bla_TEM-1, sul2 and tet(B).

Conclusion

Our results indicate that seagulls may act as reservoirs for S. Typhimurium and pose a potential risk of transmission to humans.

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西班牙巴塞罗那海鸥和鸽子中分离沙门氏菌的流行及其与人类临床分离沙门氏菌的遗传相关性

背景：需要更好地了解沙门氏菌在人类-野生动物界面的流行病学，强调“同一个健康”战略在控制人畜共患疾病传播中的重要性。本研究旨在调查西班牙巴塞罗那地区野生鸟类分离的沙门氏菌与人类患者的流行病学关系。方法对黄腿鸥（Larus michahellis， = 129）、奥杜安鸥（Ichthyaetus audouinii， = 97）和鸽子（Columba livia， = 324）幼鸟粪便标本进行沙门氏菌检测。同样，从人类患者身上也收集到了36株肠炎沙门氏菌血清型鼠伤寒杆菌。采用脉冲场凝胶电泳（PFGE）或全基因组测序对分离株进行染色体DNA分析。结果从禽类中分离得到的沙门氏菌均为肠炎沙门氏菌血清型鼠伤寒沙门氏菌，总流行率为3.1 %（17/550）。从129只黄脚鸥（9.3 %）中分离出12株，从97只奥杜安鸥（3.1 %）中分离出3株，从324只鸽子（0.6 %）中分离出2株。共有25/36（69.5% %）的人标本和9/17（52.9% %）的鸟标本被鉴定为单相种。用XbaI进行PFGE分型，将单相鼠伤寒沙门氏菌分为8个不同的菌群。三对菌株（一对来自人类，另一对来自海鸥）进行了全基因组测序。所有菌株均属于同一序列型（ST34），测序数据证实所有菌株均为鼠伤寒沙门氏菌的单相变异株，13_13995 （Audouin's鸥分离株）和14_28806（人类分离株）菌株仅在4个snp上存在差异。测序菌株获得性耐药基因为aph（3”）-Ib、aph(6)-Id、blatem1、sul2和tet(B)。结论海鸥可能是鼠伤寒沙门氏菌的宿主，具有向人类传播的潜在风险。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Infection and Public Health PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH -INFECTIOUS DISEASES

CiteScore

13.10

自引率

1.50%

发文量

203

审稿时长

96 days

期刊介绍： The Journal of Infection and Public Health, first official journal of the Saudi Arabian Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences and the Saudi Association for Public Health, aims to be the foremost scientific, peer-reviewed journal encompassing infection prevention and control, microbiology, infectious diseases, public health and the application of healthcare epidemiology to the evaluation of health outcomes. The point of view of the journal is that infection and public health are closely intertwined and that advances in one area will have positive consequences on the other. The journal will be useful to all health professionals who are partners in the management of patients with communicable diseases, keeping them up to date. The journal is proud to have an international and diverse editorial board that will assist and facilitate the publication of articles that reflect a global view on infection control and public health, as well as emphasizing our focus on supporting the needs of public health practitioners. It is our aim to improve healthcare by reducing risk of infection and related adverse outcomes by critical review, selection, and dissemination of new and relevant information in the field of infection control, public health and infectious diseases in all healthcare settings and the community.