Staphylococci are a natural component of the skin microbiota of many organisms, including humans and birds. As opportunistic pathogens, they can cause a variety of infections in humans. The close contact between domestic pigeons and their owners provide an opportunity for exchange of skin-associated bacteria. In this study, 41 healthy racing pigeons were tested. Staphylococci were detected on the skin of each bird (41/41, 100%). Isolates were identified at the species level using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). The diversity of the Staphylococcus species was relatively high and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) were predominantly isolated. In total, ten different staphylococcal species were identified. S. lentus (19/41, 46.3%) was noted most frequently. The pigeon skin was also inhabited by S. xylosus (6/41, 14.6%), S. equorum (4/41, 9.8%), S. hyicus (3/41, 7.3%), S. intermedius (2/41, 4.9%), S. sciuri (2/41, 4.9%), S. vitulinus (2/41, 4.9%), S. lugdunensis (1/41, 2.4%), S. hominis (1/41, 2.4%), and S. auricularis (1/41, 2.4%). Our results indicate that domestic pigeons may carry pathogens with zoonotic potential. All strains were susceptible to 12 antibiotics (ciprofloxacin, clindamycin chloramphenicol, erythromycin, fosfomycin, gentamicin, levofloxacin, norfloxacin, rifampicin, tobramycin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, vancomycin) representing 8 different classes. None isolate displayed a multidrug-resistant phenotype. Resistance to tetracycline (6/41, 14.6%) and to penicillin (4/41, 9.7%) was shown. The mecA gene was not detected in the examined strains and no methicillin-resistant staphylococci were found on the skin of the healthy pigeons.
Copyright: © 2023 Szczuka et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.