Abstract

The Libyan coast has various types of wetlands that are passed by many migratory birds throughout the year, however, studies on bacterial isolation from these birds in Lybia are scarce. The present study aimed to isolate enteropathogenic bacterial species from the seagulls that migrated to the Libyan coast as well as identification of the antibiotics that are resistant to these bacteria. A total of 50 fresh fecal samples were collected from slender-billed gulls in January 2023 at Farwa Island near the city of Zuwara, in Western Libya. Bacteria were isolated by conventional culturing method, identified using the Enterosystem 18R, and antibiotic susceptibility tests were conducted on the isolated bacteria. The results revealed the isolation of 46 bacteria, but only 32 of them were identified using biochemical tests. These identified bacteria belong to six species of Enterobacteriacae, namely Citrobacter (C.) freundii, Pantoea (P.) agglomerans, Escherichia (E.) coli, Enterobacter (En.) cloacae, Serratia liquifaciens, and Proteus mirabilis, with percentages of 53.125, 31.25, 6.25, 3.125, 3.125, and 3.125, respectively. All isolated bacteria were 100 sensitive to gentamicin (10 µg) and ciprofloxacin (5 µg). The highest resistance result was observed against the antibiotic cefoxitin (30 µg), with both C. freundii (5 samples) and P. agglomerans (4 samples). Resistance was observed in 5 samples of C. freundii and 4 samples of P. agglomerans out of 11 samples. Resistance to antibiotics, such as azithromycin (15 µg), ceftriaxone (30 µg), and ampicillin (10 µg), was also noted in a few isolates. The results indicated that C. freundii was the most antibiotic-resistant bacterial species isolated in this study. The highest multiple antibiotic resistance index was demonstrated by bacteria C. freundii, P. agglomerans, and En. cloacae, with a value of 0.33 for each of them. In conclusion, slender-billed gulls carry multi-drug-resistant bacteria. The study recommends the implementation of a national program to survey antibiotic-resistant bacteria, determine their prevalence, and assess the presence of antibiotic residues in animal-derived food. Furthermore, the present study advises expanding scientific studies on risk analysis, and antibiotic alternatives in migratory birds. © Open Access: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.