Salmonella spp. and antibiotic-resistant strains in wild mammals and birds in north-western Italy from 2002 to 2010

: Salmonella is an important zoonotic pathogen of economic importance. In Europe, salmonellosis is the second food-borne infection, in Italy, Salmonella is still the major cause of food-borne outbreaks. In Europe, there are many Salmonella surveillance plans on farmed animals, while Salmonella survey of wild animals is occasionally performed. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of Salmonella including the antibiotic-resistant strains in wild animals. Between 2002 and 2010, 2,713 wild animals (canids, mustelids, birds, rodents, ungulates), were collected in north-western Italy and tested for Salmonella by classical microbiological culture method followed by serological and biochemical typing. One hundred and seventeen wild animals (63 canids, 25 mustelids, 24 birds, 5 ungulates) were found positive for Salmonella (4.3%). One hundred and thirty strains, belonging to several serotypes were isolated, and S. Typhimurium was the most common serotype found. Antibiotic susceptibility was tested by disk-diffusion test on 88 strains. Almost all the analyzed strains (97.7%) showed resistance/intermediate resistance to at least one class of antibiotics and the highest resistance values were observed for the tetracycline class. In conclusion, zoonotic and antibiotic-resistant serotypes were found in many species of wildlife.