Peri-urban wildlife as sentinels for antimicrobial resistance: Insights from owlets (Tyoto alba) in Jos, Nigeria

There is a growing concern for exploring the animal-human interface through surveillance of peri-urban animals.  Wildlife at this interface has been reported to pick up and redistribute antimicrobial-resistant bacteria and other  infectious diseases. Samples from two stray Owl fledglings found at the National Veterinary Research Institute, Nigeria  were used for this study. Corynebacterium amycolatum, Mammalicoccus siuri, and Escherichia coli were isolated and  identified from cloacal and oropharyngeal swabs collected from the birds. Almost all (4/5) of the isolates had multidrug  resistance. Also, three species of Leptospira (L. enterohaemorrhagica. L grippotyphosa, and L. mini) were identified by  the microscopic agglutination technique (MAT). Our findings emphasised the growing One Health concerns for  antimicrobial resistance (AMR) spread in the environment and the importance of Wildlife in periurban centres as  sentinels for potential zoonotic transmission.