Prevalence of Zoonotic Escherichia coli and Salmonellae in Wild Birds and Humans in Egypt with Emphasis on RAPD-PCR Fingerprinting of E. coli

This study investigated the prevalence of Escherichia coli (E. coli )and salmonellae in 400 cloacal swabs of wild birds including cattle egrets, doves, sparrows and quails (100, each);and 150 stool samples of diarrheic and non-diarrheic humans (75, each), in Sharkia Province, Egypt. The prevalence of E. coli and salmonellae showed no significant differences among examined wild birds (P>0.05). There was a significant difference for E. coli incidence in diarrheic and non-diarrheic humans (P 0.05). Twenty one isolates of E. coli were serotyped from wild birds and human. Six Salmonella isolates from wild birds were serotyped into Salmonella enteritidis(S. enteritidis), S. typhimurium, S. haifa, S. chester and S. muenster, while those two isolates of human were identified into S. typhimurium and S. entertidis. Eight E. coli serotypes; belonged to O127: K63, O128:K67and O26:K60 strains from wild birds and human; were subjected to RAPD-PCR. A maximum similarity (66.7%) was found between O127:K63 from quails and O26:K60 of sparrow origin and the two isolates from doves (O26:K60 and O127:K63). A higher similarity (62.5%) was observed between O128:K67 strain from human and O26:K60 from doves. This evidenced the zoonotic transmission of E. coli strains and salmonellae from wild birds.