Faecal Shedding of Antibiotic Resistant Escherichia coli Serogroups in Pigeons with Special Reference to E. coli O157

Aims: The aim of this work was to investigate the carriage and antimicrobial susceptibility of E. coli serogroups and the prevalence of toxigenic E. coli O157 by rock pigeon in western Saudi Arabia.
Place and Duration of Study: A total of 600 faecal droppings of rock pigeons were collected from February 2012 to January 2013, from parks, playgrounds, houses roof tops and yards in Makkah city, samples were collected fortnightly.
Methodology: E. coli was detected by spread plate technique on sorbitol MacConkey agar. Confirmation of E. coli isolates was carried out by biochemical tests and PCR. Determination of E. coli serogroups was performed by latex agglutination kits. Disk diffusion method was used for antimicrobial susceptibility testing.
Results: The results showed low incidence (2.83%, n = 600) of toxigenic E. coli O157; and complete absence of O26; O91; O103; O111 and O145 serogroups in pigeon faecal droppings. Multidrug resistance was observed in O157 and non-O157 E. coli isolates from pigeons.
Conclusion: Free-living pigeons in western Saudi Arabia may not play an important role in the epidemiology of shiga toxin-producing E. coli. However, they could, in part, have an important role in the environmental contamination and distribution of multidrug-resistant E. coli.