Antibiotic resistance in conjunctival and enteric bacterial flora in raptors housed in a zoological garden.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in a wide range of infectious agents is a growing public health threat. Birds of prey are considered indicators of the presence of AMR bacteria in their ecosystem because of their predatory behaviour. Only few data are reported in the literature on AMR strains isolated from animals housed in zoos and none about AMR in raptors housed in zoological gardens. This study investigated the antibiotic sensitivity profile of the isolates obtained from the conjunctival and cloacal bacterial flora of 14 healthy birds of prey, 6 , 3 and 5 , housed in an Italian zoological garden. spp. was isolated from 50% of the conjunctival swabs, with as the most common species. From cloacal swabs, was cultured from all animals, while spp. and spp. were isolated from a smaller number of birds. Worthy of note is the isolation of and , rarely isolated from raptors. Staphylococci were also isolated. All the isolates were multidrug resistant (MDR). To the author's knowledge, this is the first report regarding the presence of MDR strains within raptors housed in a zoological garden. Since resistance genes can be transferred to other pathogenic bacteria, this represents a potential hazard for the emergence of new MDR pathogens. In conclusion, the obtained data could be useful for conservation programmes aimed to preserve the health of the endangered species housed in a zoo.