Zoonotic Bacteria in sp., an Invasive Species Introduced to the Canary Islands (Spain).

Lizards belonging to the genus are native to America and have been introduced in many parts of the world. In this work, a gastrointestinal microbiological analysis from sp. introduced to Tenerife, Canary Island, was carried out. A total of 74 individuals were analyzed by culture and molecular tools. spp. was the most prevalent bacteria isolated (64.3%), followed by enteropathogenic with at least one of the investigated virulent genes ( and ) (44.6%). The gene was more prevalent which differs to that reported in other reptiles, probably due to wastewater transmission. spp. was detected in 32.4% of the animals, highlighting the detection of and by their relevance to public health. The zoonotic , found in 14.9% of the animals, was firstly detected in reptiles. sp. which is more associated with aquatic environments was found in 10.8% of the lizards in this study, with being found in two of the animals. The prevalence of sp. (5.4%) was low, compared with other studies carried out in reptiles. These results indicate that sp. in Tenerife could be playing a role in the maintenance and spread of the pathogens detected, being a possible risk factor for public health and biodiversity conservation.