Survey on the Presence of Bacterial and Parasitic Zoonotic Agents in the Feces of Wild Birds.

Wild avifauna may act as fecal source of bacterial and parasitic pathogens for other birds and mammals. Most of these pathogens have a relevant impact on human and livestock health which may cause severe disease and economic loss. In the present study, the fecal samples collected from 121 wild birds belonging to 15 species of the genera , and were submitted to bacteriological and molecular analyses to detect spp., , spp., spp., spp., spp., and microsporidia. Four (3.3%) animals were positive for one pathogen: one for , one for serovar Coeln, and two for . Although the prevalence rates found in the present survey were quite low, the obtained results confirm that wild birds would be the a potential fecal source of bacterial and parasitic zoonotic pathogens which sometimes can also represent a severe threat for farm animals.