Abstract


             Avian species are considered as the main reservoir of  Campylobacter  spp. However, few data are available on the presence of this microorganism in pet birds. This study was therefore performed to determine the prevalence of  Campylobacter  spp. in pet birds bred in southern Italy. Faecal samples were collected from 88 cages housing different species of pet birds and examined by bacteriological culture and polymerase chain reaction. A total of 13.6% of the cage samples were positive for  Campylobacter coli . Other  Campylobacter  spp. were not found. The study shows that  C. coli  can be isolated from the cages of apparently healthy pet birds, which should therefore be considered as potential carriers of  C. coli  and a possible source of infection for humans and companion animals

Borrelli, Luca

D\u2019Orazio, Stefano

Dipineto, Ludovico

Fioretti, Alessandro

Pace, Antonino

Romano, Violante

Russo, Tamara

Varriale, Lorena

Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica

PubMed

Springer OAI

Campylobacter coli infection in pet birds in southern Italy

Avian species are considered as the main reservoir of Campylobacter spp. However, few data are available on the presence of this microorganism in pet birds. This study was therefore performed to determine the prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in pet birds bred in southern Italy. Faecal samples were collected from 88 cages housing different species of pet birds and examined by bacteriological culture and polymerase chain reaction. A total of 13.6% of the cage samples were positive for Campylobacter coli. Other Campylobacter spp. were not found. The study shows that C. coli can be isolated from the cages of apparently healthy pet birds, which should therefore be considered as potential carriers of C. coli and a possible source of infection for humans and companion animals

DIPINETO, LUDOVICO

BORRELLI, LUCA

PACE, ANTONINO

D'orazio, Stefano

RUSSO, TAMARA PASQUALINA

FIORETTI, ALESSANDRO

Archivio della ricerca - Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II

Dipineto et al. Acta Vet Scand  (2017) 59:6 DOI 10.1186/s13028-016-0271-yBRIEF COMMUNICATIONCampylobacter coli infection in pet birds in southern ItalyLudovico Dipineto*, Luca Borrelli, Antonino Pace, Violante Romano, Stefano D’Orazio, Lorena Varriale, Tamara Pasqualina Russo and Alessandro FiorettiAbstract Avian species are considered as the main reservoir of Campylobacter spp. However, few data are available on the presence of this microorganism in pet birds. This study was therefore performed to determine the prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in pet birds bred in southern Italy. Faecal samples were collected from 88 cages housing different species of pet birds and examined by bacteriological culture and polymerase chain reaction. A total of 13.6% of the cage samples were positive for Campylobacter coli. Other Campylobacter spp. were not found. The study shows that C. coli can be isolated from the cages of apparently healthy pet birds, which should therefore be considered as potential carriers of C. coli and a possible source of infection for humans and companion animals.Keywords: Campylobacter spp., Campylobacter coli, Avian species, Pet birds, Zoonosis© The Author(s) 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.FindingsThermotolerant Campylobacter spp., mainly Campy-lobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli, are the most commonly reported bacteria in enteric infections in humans. The incidence of human campylobacteriosis has increased in both developed and developing countries over the last 10 years [1]. These bacterial species colonize the intestinal mucosa of most warm-blooded animals, including food-producing animal species and humans [2].Several avian species are considered the main reser-voirs of Campylobacter spp. [3, 4]. Nevertheless, current scientific knowledge on the presence of Campylobacter spp. in pet birds is scarce. To address this lack of informa-tion, the present study was undertaken to assess the pres-ence of Campylobacter spp. in pet birds bred in southern Italy.The study was carried out from July to December 2015 in 14 privately owned bird farms located in the Campania region, southern Italy. Sampling was conducted with the approval of the owners. In each farm, the bird population ranged from 20 to 100 birds. Pooled faecal samples were obtained from the floor of 88 cages with birds belonging to the families of Estrildidae (33 cages with 118 birds), Fringillidae (28 cages with 64 birds) and Psittacidae (27 cages with 43 birds) (Table 1). The cage was used as an epidemiological unit, and each cage housed from one to five birds. All birds were apparently in healthy condition and none received any antimicrobial treatment during the study period.Before the collection of faecal samples, a sheet of ster-ile aluminum foil was placed under the grid of each cage overnight. Faecal samples were then collected by sterile cotton tipped swabs. Each sample swab was stored in Amies Charcoal Transport Medium (Oxoid, Basingstoke, UK) at 4 °C, transported to the laboratory, and analyzed within 2  h of collection. Samples were inoculated into Bolton selective enrichment broth (Oxoid) and incubated at 42 °C for 48 h under microaerobic conditions provided by CampyGen (Oxoid). Subsequently, each sample was streaked onto Campylobacter blood-free selective agar (modified charcoal cefoperazone deoxycholate agar; Oxoid) with the corresponding supplement (SE 155; Oxoid). The plates were examined for typical Campy-lobacter colonies after additional incubation at 42  °C for 48  h under microaerobic conditions. The suspected colonies were purified on sheep blood agar (Oxoid) and finally incubated for 24 h at 42  °C. Colonies comprising Open AccessActa Veterinaria Scandinavica*Correspondence:  ludovico.dipineto@unina.it Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Productions, Università  di Napoli Federico II, Via della Veterinaria 1, 80137 Naples, ItalyPage 2 of 3Dipineto et al. Acta Vet Scand  (2017) 59:6 curved or spiral motile rods were examined by phase contrast microscopy, presumptively identified as Campy-lobacter spp. and submitted to a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis following the procedures described by Gargiulo et al. [5].All positive isolates were tested for the antimicrobial susceptibility by using the disk diffusion method and breakpoints as suggested by Sifré et al. [6]. Because few breakpoints are available for Campylobacter spp., only ciprofloxacin (5  μg), erythromycin (15  μg), and tetracy-cline (30 μg) were tested.Twelve out of the 88 cages [13.6%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 7.6–23.0%] were positive for a Campylo-bacter spp., which in all cases was identified as C. coli. Seven out of 33 cages with bids of the Estrildidae family (21.2%; 95% CI 9.6–39.4%) and five out of 27 cages with birds of the Psittacidae family (18.5%; 95% CI 7.0–38.8%) were infected with C. coli, while all cages (n = 28) with birds of the Fringillidae family were negative (Table  1). Out of the 14 farms, five farms had infected birds (35.7%; 95% CI 14.0–64.4%). All C. coli isolates were sensi-tive to erythromycin and resistant to tetracycline and ciprofloxacin.Except for a study reporting a prevalence of campylo-bacteriosis in pet birds in Argentina to 19.0% [7], data on the occurrence of campylobacteriosis in pet birds are scarce. In our study, 13.6% of the cage samples were found positive for C. coli. The majority of the positive samples (7/12) originated from Taeniopygia guttata spe-cies in which C. coli was found in all samples (7/7 spe-cies samples) followed by Amazona spp. (3/12 positive samples; 3/6 species samples) and Agapornis spp. (2/12 positive samples; 2/10 species samples).This study shows that C. coli may be excreted in the faeces of apparently healthy pet birds. Pet birds may be a potential source of C. coli transmission to humans and the risk of transmission of antimicrobial resistant bac-teria between pet birds and other animal species and humans should be considered. The adoption of good hygiene practices when handling pet birds should be promoted.Authors’ contributionsLD and LB planned the study. LB, VR, SD and AP collected the samples. AP, TPR and LV performed the laboratory analyses. LD and AF obtained the funding and coordinated the study. LD, VR and SD drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to thank the Campania region, which financially sup-ported this project (Legge 5/2002 ann.tà 2007, CUP E62I15000330002).Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.Received: 30 July 2016   Accepted: 20 December 2016References 1. Kaakoush NO, Castaño-Rodríguez N, Mitchell HM, Man SM. Global epide-miology of Campylobacter infection. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2015;28:687–720. 2. Newell DG, Fearnley C. Sources of Campylobacter colonization in broiler chickens. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2003;69:4343–51. 3. Dipineto L, Gargiulo A, De Luca Bossa LM, Rinaldi L, Borrelli L, Menna LF, Fioretti A. Prevalence of thermotolerant Campylobacter in pheasants (Phasianus colchicus). Avian Pathol. 2008;37:507–8.Table 1 Family and  species of  birds examined, related bird populations and  number of  cages tested with  percentage of cages being positive for Campylobacter coliBird population refers to the total number of birds housed in the total number of cages examinedFamily Birds tested Bird population/number  of cages testedNumber of positive/pooled fecal samples tested (%)Estrildidae Erythrura gouldiae 67/22 0/22 (0%)Lonchura striata domestica 16/4 0/4 (0%)Taeniopygia guttata 35/7 7/7 (100%)Fringillidae Carduelis carduelis 18/9 0/9 (0%)Serinus canaria 46/19 0/19 (0%)Psittacidae Agapornis spp. 20/10 2/10 (20%)Amazona spp. 6/6 3/6 (50%)Arinae subfamily 6/3 0/3 (0%)Cacatuidae family 2/2 0/2 (0%)Loriinae subfamily 2/1 0/1 (0%)Melopsittacus undulatus 2/1 0/1 (0%)Nymphicus hollandicus 2/1 0/1 (0%)Psittacus erithacus 3/3 0/3 (0%)Total 225/88 12/88 (13.6%)Page 3 of 3Dipineto et al. Acta Vet Scand  (2017) 59:6 •  We accept pre-submission inquiries •  Our selector tool helps you to find the most relevant journal•  We provide round the clock customer support •  Convenient online submission•  Thorough peer review•  Inclusion in PubMed and all major indexing services •  Maximum visibility for your researchSubmit your manuscript atwww.biomedcentral.com/submitSubmit your next manuscript to BioMed Central and we will help you at every step: 4. Dipineto L, Gargiulo A, De Luca Bossa LM, Rinaldi L, Borrelli L, Santaniello A, et al. Prevalence of thermotolerant Campylobacter in partridges (Perdix perdix). Lett Appl Microbiol. 2009;49:351–3. 5. Gargiulo A, Sensale M, Marzocco L, Fioretti A, Menna LF, Dipineto L. Campylobacter jejuni, Campylobacter coli, and cytolethal distend-ing toxin (CDT) genes in common teals (Anas crecca). Vet Microbiol. 2011;150:401–4. 6. Sifré E, Salha BA, Ducournau A, Floch P, Chardon H, Mégraud F, Lehours P. EUCAST recommendations for antimicrobial susceptibility testing applied to the three main Campylobacter species isolated in humans. J Microbiol Methods. 2015;119:206–13. 7. López CM, Giacoboni G, Agostini A, Cornero FJ, Tellechea DM, Trinidad JJ. Thermotolerant Campylobacters in domestic animals in a defined population in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Prev Vet Med. 2002;55:193–200.

Ludovico Dipineto

Luca Borrelli

Antonino Pace

Violante Romano

Stefano D’Orazio

Lorena Varriale

Tamara Pasqualina Russo

Alessandro Fioretti

Springer - Publisher Connector


            Campylobacter coli infection in pet birds in southern Italy

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Campylobacter coli infection in pet birds in southern Italy

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