Virulence -Determinants and Antibiotic Resistance Pattern of Salmonella Species Isolates from Fancy Pigeons in Port-Said Governorate, Egypt

This study was carried out to investigate the prevalence of salmonellosis among fancy pigeons in PortSaid Governorate, Egypt. Two hundred (150 pet stores and 50 lofts) samples were collected from pigeons suffered from general signs of illness, joint lesions and diarrhea. Bacteriological and serological analysis revealed 12 (6%) isolate of Salmonella species distributed among eight serotypes, in which S. Virchow was more frequently isolated (25%), followed by S. Typhimurium and S. Paratyphi (16.6% each). Meanwhile, S. Akay, S. Salamae, S. Anderlecht, S. Magherafelt and S. Montevideo were 8.3%, each. All Salmonella isolates showed 100% sensitivity towards norfloxacin followed by ciprofloxacin (83.3%). On the other hand, ten Salmonella serotypes showed high resistance to erythromycin and rifampicin by 91.7 %. However, 42.1% of the recovered isolates exhibited Multi drug resistant (MDR) and 16.6% exhibited Extensive drug resistant (XDR) to different antibiotics. Molecular detection of 5 virulence genes (invA, stn, sopE1, pefA and fimH) among four chosen Salmonella serotypes (S. Paratyphi, S. Typhimurium, S. Virchow, S. Montevideo) using conventional PCR revealed the presence of invA, stn and fimH genes in all examined Salmonella serotypes. Meanwhile, sopE1 and pefA genes were detected only between S. Virchow and S. Typhimurium, respectively.