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Exploring the Antimicrobial Resistance Phenomenon in Wildlife: The Need for...
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Exploring the Antimicrobial Resistance Phenomenon in Wildlife: The Need for a Holistic Perspective for Global Health

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Wildlife".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2024 | Viewed by 7487

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Lorena Varriale

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Productions, Federico II University of Naples, 80137 Naples, Italy
Interests: microbiome studies and antimicrobial resistance; wildlife; wild birds; poultry; infectious diseases; zoonoses and public health; epidemiology; microbiology; molecular biology; metagenomics
Dr. Antonino Pace

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Marine Turtle Research Group, Department of Marine Animal Conservation and Public Engagement, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, 80121 Naples, Italy
Interests: sea turtles; wildlife; sentinel species; antibiotic resistance; infectious diseases; zoonoses; one health
Dr. Luca Borrelli

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Productions, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, 80137 Naples, Italy
Interests: veterinary medicine; microbiome studies; zoonotic diseases; infectious disease epidemiology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in wild animals is an alarming situation with public health, ecological, and economic consequences, therefore raising the need for surveillance programs on resistance mechanisms in the environment, including wildlife. This phenomenon, resulting from the antibiotic overuse in animal productions, human and veterinary medicine, can affect wild animals even without therapeutic antibiotic exposure.

In natural settings, bacteria harboring antimicrobial-resistant genes are part of a complex interplay involving different communities. The sub-inhibitory concentrations of antibiotics released in the environment can disrupt the balance among microbial populations, both on ecological and evolutionary levels. Wildlife constitutes a unique population for exploring the relationship between the microbiome, health, and disease. Anthropogenic disturbances can cause shifts in the wildlife gut microbiome and disrupt its natural homeostasis, thus making animals more susceptible to infectious diseases, including potential zoonoses.

The objective of this Special Issue is to investigate and quantify the scale of the AMR phenomenon and the related microbiota response, from a wider and holistic perspective, in several species of wild animals. We invite contributions from researchers working in different areas of veterinary sciences, microbiology, infectious diseases, and genetics, encouraging advanced molecular techniques and sequence analysis (e.g., RT-qPCR, shotgun metagenomics), essential to deepen knowledge on AMR dynamics in wildlife microbial communities.

Dr. Lorena Varriale
Dr. Antonino Pace
Dr. Luca Borrelli
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • antimicrobial resistance
  • antimicrobial-resistant genes
  • antimicrobial-resistant bacteria
  • wildlife
  • human–wildlife interface
  • microbiota community
  • metagenomics
  • qPCR
  • resistome
  • next-generation sequencing (NGS)
  • multidrug resistance

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 2982 KiB  
Article
Human Disturbance Increases Health Risks to Golden Snub-Nosed Monkeys and the Transfer Risk of Pathogenic Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria from Golden Snub-Nosed Monkeys to Humans
by Shuzhen Zou, Tingting Yuan, Tan Lu, Jiayu Yan, Di Kang and Dayong Li
Animals 2023, 13(19), 3083; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13193083 - 03 Oct 2023
Viewed by 1074
Abstract
From the perspective of interactions in the human–animal–ecosystem, the study and control of pathogenic bacteria that can cause disease in animals and humans is the core content of “One Health”. In order to test the effect of human disturbance (HD) on the health [...] Read more.
From the perspective of interactions in the human–animal–ecosystem, the study and control of pathogenic bacteria that can cause disease in animals and humans is the core content of “One Health”. In order to test the effect of human disturbance (HD) on the health risk of pathogenic antibiotic-resistant bacteria (PARBs) to wild animals and transfer risk of the PARBs from wild animals to humans, golden snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana) were used as sentinel animals. Metagenomic analysis was used to analyze the characteristics of PARBs in the gut microbiota of golden snub-nosed monkeys. Then, the total contribution of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and virulence factors (VFs) of the PARBs were used to assess the health risk of PARBs to golden snub-nosed monkeys, and the antimicrobial drug resistance and bacterial infectious disease of PARBs were determined to assess the transfer risk of PARBs from golden snub-nosed monkeys to humans. There were 18 and 5 kinds of PARBs in the gut microbiota of golden snub-nosed monkeys under HD (HD group) and wild habitat environments (W group), respectively. The total health risks of PARBs to the W group and the HD group were −28.5 × 10−3 and 125.8 × 10−3, respectively. There were 12 and 16 kinds of KEGG pathways of human diseases in the PARBs of the W group and the HD group, respectively, and the gene numbers of KEGG pathways in the HD group were higher than those in the W group. HD increased the pathogenicity of PARBs to golden snub-nosed monkeys, and the PARBs in golden snub-nosed monkeys exhibited resistance to lincosamide, aminoglycoside, and streptogramin antibiotics. If these PARBs transfer from golden snub-nosed monkeys to humans, then humans may acquire symptoms of pathogens including Tubercle bacillus, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Yersinia, Pertussis, and Vibrio cholera. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring the Antimicrobial Resistance Phenomenon in Wildlife: The Need for a Holistic Perspective for Global Health)
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16 pages, 930 KiB  
Article
Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles, Virulence Determinants, and Biofilm Formation in Enterococci Isolated from Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta): A Potential Threat for Wildlife in Bangladesh?
by Farhana Binte Ferdous, Md. Saiful Islam, Md. Ashek Ullah, Md. Liton Rana, Sadia Afrin Punom, Fahim Haque Neloy, Mohammad Nizam Uddin Chowdhury, Jayedul Hassan, Mahbubul Pratik Siddique, Sukumar Saha and Md. Tanvir Rahman
Animals 2023, 13(14), 2268; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13142268 - 11 Jul 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1865
Abstract
Enterococci are commensal bacteria that inhabit the digestive tracts of animals and humans. The transmission of antibiotic-resistant genes through human–animal contact poses a potential public health risk worldwide, as zoonoses from wildlife reservoirs can occur on every continent. The purpose of this study [...] Read more.
Enterococci are commensal bacteria that inhabit the digestive tracts of animals and humans. The transmission of antibiotic-resistant genes through human–animal contact poses a potential public health risk worldwide, as zoonoses from wildlife reservoirs can occur on every continent. The purpose of this study was to detect Enterococcus spp. in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) and to investigate their resistance patterns, virulence profiles, and biofilm-forming ability. Conventional screening of rectal swabs (n = 67) from macaques was followed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The biofilm-forming enterococci were determined using the Congo red agar plate assay. Using the disk diffusion test (DDT), antibiogram profiles were determined, followed by resistance and virulence genes identification by PCR. PCR for bacterial species confirmation revealed that 65.7% (44/67) and 22.4% (15/67) of the samples tested positive for E. faecalis and E. faecium, respectively. All the isolated enterococci were biofilm formers. In the DDT, enterococcal isolates exhibited high to moderate resistance to penicillin, rifampin, ampicillin, erythromycin, vancomycin, and linezolid. In the PCR assays, the resistance gene blaTEM was detected in 61.4% (27/44) of E. faecalis and 60% (9/15) of E. faecium isolates. Interestingly, 88.63 % (39/44) of E. faecalis and 100% (15/15) of E. faecium isolates were phenotypically multidrug-resistant. Virulence genes (agg, fsrA, fsrB, fsrC, gelE, sprE, pil, and ace) were more frequent in E. faecalis compared to E. faecium; however, isolates of both Enterococcus spp. were found negative for the cyl gene. As far as we know, the present study has detected, for the first time in Bangladesh, the presence of virulence genes in MDR biofilm-forming enterococci isolated from rhesus macaques. The findings of this study suggest employing epidemiological surveillance along with the one-health approach to monitor these pathogens in wild animals in Bangladesh, which will aid in preventing their potential transmission to humans. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring the Antimicrobial Resistance Phenomenon in Wildlife: The Need for a Holistic Perspective for Global Health)
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12 pages, 1997 KiB  
Article
One Health Approach: Invasive California Kingsnake (Lampropeltis californiae) as an Important Source of Antimicrobial Drug-Resistant Salmonella Clones on Gran Canaria Island
by Kevin M. Santana-Hernández, Eligia Rodríguez-Ponce, Inmaculada Rosario Medina, Begoña Acosta-Hernández, Simon L. Priestnall, Santiago Vega, Clara Marin, Marta Cerdà-Cuéllar, Ana Marco-Fuertes, Teresa Ayats, Teresa García Beltrán and Pablo A. Lupiola-Gómez
Animals 2023, 13(11), 1790; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13111790 - 28 May 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2135
Abstract
The increase in the reptile population has led to a rise in the number of zoonotic infections due to close contact with reptiles, with reptile-associated salmonellosis being particularly relevant. California kingsnake invasion not only threatens the endemic reptile population of the island of [...] Read more.
The increase in the reptile population has led to a rise in the number of zoonotic infections due to close contact with reptiles, with reptile-associated salmonellosis being particularly relevant. California kingsnake invasion not only threatens the endemic reptile population of the island of Gran Canaria (Spain) but also poses serious public health problems by spreading zoonotic pathogens and their antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to the environment. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the occurrence, genetic diversity, and AMR among Salmonella spp. strains isolated from California kingsnakes in Gran Canaria Island (Spain). Of 73 invasive individuals captured, 20.5% carried Salmonella spp., belonging to different subspecies and serovars, with subsp. salamae as the most abundant. Pulsed-field electrophoresis showed high genetic diversity among subsp. salamae isolates, and among these, 73.3% showed resistance to at least one of the antimicrobials tested. In conclusion, the present study revealed the importance of wild invasive California kingsnakes as reservoirs of drug-resistant Salmonella spp. that could pose a direct threat to livestock and humans. Identification of drug-resistant Salmonella strains in wildlife provides valuable information on potential routes of transmission that involve risks to public and animal health. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring the Antimicrobial Resistance Phenomenon in Wildlife: The Need for a Holistic Perspective for Global Health)
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10 pages, 568 KiB  
Article
Tetracycline Resistance Genes in Wild Birds from a Wildlife Recovery Centre in Central Italy
by Antonietta Di Francesco, Daniela Salvatore, Fabrizio Bertelloni and Valentina Virginia Ebani
Animals 2023, 13(1), 76; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13010076 - 24 Dec 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1584
Abstract
Wild animals are less likely to be exposed directly to clinical antimicrobial agents than domestic animals or humans, but they can acquire antimicrobial-resistant bacteria through contact with humans, animals, and the environment. In the present study, 254 dead free-living birds belonging to 23 [...] Read more.
Wild animals are less likely to be exposed directly to clinical antimicrobial agents than domestic animals or humans, but they can acquire antimicrobial-resistant bacteria through contact with humans, animals, and the environment. In the present study, 254 dead free-living birds belonging to 23 bird species were examined by PCR for the presence of tetracycline resistance (tet) genes. A fragment of the spleen was collected from each bird carcass. A portion of the intestine was also taken from 73 of the 254 carcasses. Extracted DNA was subjected to PCR amplification targeting the tet(L), tet(M), and tet(X) genes. In total, 114 (45%) of the 254 birds sampled belonging to 17 (74%) of the 23 bird species tested were positive for one or more tet genes. The tet(M) gene showed a higher frequency than the other tested genes, both in the spleen and in the intestine samples. These results confirm the potential role of wild birds as reservoirs, dispersers, or bioindicators of antimicrobial resistance in the environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring the Antimicrobial Resistance Phenomenon in Wildlife: The Need for a Holistic Perspective for Global Health)
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