A group of researchers from University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, CEU Cardenal Herrera and the IRTA-CReSA conducted a study to analyze the impact of genetic diversity and antibiotic resistance in Salmonella isolated from wild cats from the ‘One Health’ approach.
“Los free living cats They usually live in urban colonies, especially near parks and neighborhoods where people feed them without health controls. This can be a problem for human, animal and environmental health due to close contact between uncontrolled colonies, populations and other domesticated and/or wild animals,” they said.
Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the genetic diversity and resistance to antimicrobials (rum) in between Salmonella subsp. enterica isolated from these cats in a previous epidemiological study on the island of Gran Canaria (Spain).
A total of nineteen Salmonella isolates were obtained between November 2018 and January 2019 in an epidemiological study of Salmonella in feral cats. All that The obtained isolates were genotyped by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PGFE) and its antimicrobial susceptibility was evaluated, according to Decision 2013/652/EU.
PFGE analysis revealed isolates grouped by serovar, with similar clones for serovars Bredeney and Grancanaria, while different pulse types were observed for serovars Florida (88.89% similarity) and Nima (83.23% similarity). All but two isolates were resistant. at least one antimicrobial.
“The results obtained show that the wild cats in the investigated region is a reservoir of Salmonella strains resistant to gentamicin (94.1%) and the critically important antimicrobial tigecycline (23.5%). Therefore, they can release AMR strains through their feces and pollute the environment, favoring the spread of these bacteria,” they said.
Furthermore, for the authors, this widespread presence of resistant Salmonella clones in many serovars highlights the “urgent need to implement efficient antimicrobial stewardship and control programs of local governments due to the constant need to protect human and animal health under the concept of One Health.
