Antimicrobial resistance and virulence profiles of isolated from two-finger and three-finger sloths ( and ) of Costa Rica.

BACKGROUND

Wildlife has been recently recognized as an environmental reservoir for antimicrobial resistance (AMR). However, less information on this topic is available in animals released back into the wild after rehabilitation in wildlife facilities, compared with studies performed exclusively in captive or free-ranging wildlife. This study aimed to evaluate the potential influence of captivity and/or treatment while in captivity of wild sloths on the AMR and virulence profiles of sloths' .

METHODS

Oral and rectal swab samples were collected from 39 two-finger () and three-finger sloths () of Costa Rica ( = 78) and analyzed using conventional bacteriological techniques. A generalized linear mixed model was applied to estimate the isolates' multiple antimicrobial resistance and virulence indices as a function of animal status.

RESULTS

A considerable level of resistance was detected, especially for and , with 17.5% of isolates classified as multidrug-resistant. Virulence indices of isolates from rehabilitated sloths were significantly higher than the ones from sloths being hand-reared for shorter periods.

CONCLUSIONS

To our knowledge, this is the first description of sloths' antimicrobial resistant , suggesting that sloths' rehabilitation and consequent exposure to humans, may promote the selection of bacteria with higher virulence. Ultimately, these bacteria may represent a threat to human and animal health due to their zoonotic potential and AMR and virulence profiles.