Most of the studies focused on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) performed in wildlife describe
Escherichia coli as the principal indicator of the selective pressure. In the present study, several species of Enterobacterales with a large panel of cephalosporin resistant (CR) genes
have been isolated from wildlife in Catalonia. A total of 307 wild animals were examined to
determine the prevalence of CR enterobacteria, AMR phenotypes and the presence of common carbapenem and CR genes. The overall prevalence of CR-phenotype was 13% (40/
307): 17.3% in wild mammals (18/104) and 11.5% in wild birds (22/191) (p<0.01). Hedgehogs showed the highest prevalence (13.5% of 104) of the mammal specimens, and raptors
the highest in bird specimen (7.3% of 191). Although CR E. coli was the most frequently isolated (45%), other CR- Enterobacterales like Klebsiella pneumoniae (20%), Citrobacter
freundii (15%), Enterobacter cloacae (5%), Proteus mirabilis (5%), Providencia spp (5%)
and Serratia marcescens (2.5%) were also isolated. A high diversity of CR genes was identified among the isolates, with 50% yielding blaCMY-2, 23% blaSHV-12, 20% blaCMY-1 and
18% blaCTX-M-15. Additionally, resistance to carbapenems associated to OXA-48 gene
was found. Most of the CR isolates, principally K. pneumoniae and C. freundii, were multiresistant with co-resistance to fluoroquinolones, tetracycline, sulphonamides and aminoglycosides. This study reports high prevalence of Enterobacterales harbouring a variety of CR
genes and OXA-48 mediated-carbapenem resistance, all of them frequently associated to
nosocomial human infections, for the first time in wild mammals and wild birds. Implementation of control measures to reduce the impact of anthropogenic pressure in the environment
is urgently needed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
