Zoonotic relevance of multidrug-resistant bacteria in parrots with respiratory illness

Nowadays, research attention is paid to the investigation of bacterial pathogens in the cloaca of parrots rather than the nasal niche, which is largely ignored. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the nasal carriage of multidrug-resistant bacteria with zoonotic potential in parrots suffering from respiratory illness. Nasal swabs were collected from 75 sick parrots with respiratory illness, and they were subjected to microbiological isolation and identification, followed by antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, and Staphylococcus aureus were isolated with a prevalence rate of 36%, 32%, 26.7%, and 9.3%, respectively, while one isolate (1.3%) of Staphylococcus pseudointermedius, Staphylococcus simulans, Staphylococcus sciuri, and Enterococcus faecalis was identified. E. coli, K. pneumoniae, and P. mirabilis were investigated for ESBL genes, Staphylococcus species for the mecA gene, followed by SCCmec typing, and E. faecalis for the vanA and vanB genes. Regarding beta-lactamase-encoding genes, bla_TEM (97.6%), bla_SHV (48.8%), and bla_CTX-M (39%) gene families were detected, while bla_OXA was not found. Sequencing of bla_CTX-M in one strain of E. coli, K. pneumoniae, and P. mirabilis revealed bla_CTX-M-15. The mecA was determined in three S. aureus and one S. sciuri strain, and the SCCmec typing of three MRSA isolates yielded type V, whereas type I in S. sciuri. Only the vanA gene was recognized in the E. faecalis strain. Moreover, 67.1% of bacterial isolates exhibited multidrug resistance. These findings highlight the potential role of parrots in the transmission of multidrug-resistant zoonotic bacteria, which may pose a threat to human contacts.