Salmonella Enterica Strain Not Yet Seen on Migratory Wild Birds: Study

Salmonella is among the most prevalent kinds of bacterial food poison. It is often characterized by stomach pains and diarrhea that lasts four to seven days.

Despite the fact that many migrating birds carry Salmonella, the bacteria they carry often lack antibacterial agent genes, according to Penn State researchers who led a team completing a new study.

While scientists have known for a long time that wild birds may transmit Salmonella, the strains they carry appeared to be of less concern to human health.

Salmonella enterica in Migratory birds

According to team leader Ed Dudley, a Penn State professor of food science.

"We assumed that these salmonellae, like the germs we can isolate from domesticated farm animals, would have a huge number of antimicrobial-resistance genes, but we discovered the reverse," as per ScienceDaily.

According to Dudley, wild birds are known to be widely accepted reserves of Salmonella enterica, a type of bacteria that horrifies millions of citizens each year, and researchers have been concerned that wild birds having to carry antimicrobial-resistant Salmonella enterica present a hazard to public health since they can spread the resistant strains throughout large areas in a short period of time.

But according to the findings, wild birds are not key reservoirs of resistant Salmonella enterica strains.

The study, led by Yezhi Fu, a postdoctoral researcher in Dudley's research group at the College of Agricultural Sciences, resolved critical issues concerning the function of migrating birds in disease transmission to people.

Typhimurium was the most common Salmonella enterica bacteria, accounting for 68% of the bird specimens, according to research published in Environmental Microbiology.

However, less than 2% of those isolated were found to be multi-antimicrobial resistance or heavy metal resistance.

Surprisingly, all of the multi-resistant Salmonella enterica isolates were from water birds or raptors; none came from songbirds.

Dudley's investigators proceeded to examine the government collection of Salmonella samples from wild birds, generating many more discoveries.

Researchers reported in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology that different strains of Salmonella were linked to certain hosts.

After analyzing 131 Salmonella typhimurium specimens from wild birds gathered in 30 U.S. states, researchers discovered that songbirds and waterbirds were likely to harbor the same strains, but gulls and terns carried unique, independent lineages of the bacterium.

Typhimurium may have evolved inside wild birds in the United States, according to the research.

Also Read: Bearded Dragons Linked to Salmonella Outbreak That Infected 44 Across 25 States

What is Salmonella?

Salmonella is among the most prevalent kinds of bacterial food poisoning in the United States.

Each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention receives around 42,000 complaints of salmonella.

According to experts, the overall number of cases may be greater than 1.2 million.

Salmonella outbreaks are more prevalent in the summer than in the winter, as per the Cleveland Clinic.

Diarrhea might be severe or linger for a long time in some persons.

In general, children are more prone than other age groups to get salmonella.

A lab test on the ill person's feces is the only method to be certain if the diarrhea, cramps, and fever are caused by Salmonella infection.

There are around 2,000 distinct varieties of salmonella bacteria that cause illness. Certain antibiotics are ineffective against some of these strains.

If the patient visits a doctor, the doctor may conduct additional lab testing on the bacteria in the stool sample to determine the kind of salmonella.

This information will assist the doctor in determining which antibiotic to employ if the patient requires treatment.