Antimicrobial resistance is currently one of the major public health threats. In order to prevent its spread, the WHO, OIE and FAO have formed an alliance to promote the study of antibiotic resistance evolution in human, animal and environmental bacteria posing a public health threat; however, the studies performed in wild animals are scarce so far. The main objective of this study was to assess the antibiotic resistance of
Rectal samples were collected from 103 wild mammals – 70 hunt prey and 33 rescued animals. Isolates were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation–time of flight mass spectrometry and susceptibility tests to 10 antibiotics were also carried out. Statistical analysis was performed (P ≤ 0.05).
A total of 126 isolates of seven different
This study found resistance widely distributed among enterococci isolated from the studied mammals. This points to the need for additional study of its genetic determinants and investigation of the sources and measures to avoid contributory environmental contamination.