ABSTRACT Caatinga is a biome unique to Brazil, where degradation caused by anthropogenic actions has led to loss of biodiversity and put many species at risk of extinction. The Ceará state is located within the Caatinga and has a rich avifauna. It comprises 433 species, including 13 species that are in danger of extinction, which are found in the Baturité Massif. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency and diversity of enterobacteria in wild birds and determine their susceptibility to antimicrobials. Cloacal swab samples were collected from 50 individuals of 28 different species, including the Ceara Gnatheter (Conopophaga cearae) and the Red-necked Tanager (Tangara cyanocephala), which are classified as vulnerable (VU) by the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment. A total of 55 isolates belonging to 14 different species of Enterobacteriaceae were identified. Among them, Pantoea agglomerans and Escherichia coli were the most prevalent species with isolation rates of 36% and 26%, respectively. The highest rate of antimicrobial resistance found was to ampicillin (41.8%), followed by nalidixic acid (36.3%) and amoxicillin associated with clavulanic acid (32.7%). Drugs that presented best efficacy were tobramycin (96.4%), ciprofloxacin (92.6%), and tetracycline (90.9%). Multidrug resistance was observed in 23.5% of the analyzed strains. This research provides important information about the composition of the cloacal microbiota of wild birds in Mulungu, Brazil, as well as their health status. Additionally, these results demonstrate that they harbor multidrug-resistant strains of Enterobacteriaceae.

This study aimed at evaluating bacterial shedding, as detected in swabs, feces, and eggs of quails submitted to forced molting by feed fasting and experimentally infected with a Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) strain. In the experiment, 84 40-week-old Italian female quails were distributed in the following groups: FI (quails induced to molt by fasting and inoculated with Salmonella Enteritidis - SE); CI (quails fed with a laying diet and inoculated with SE); FNI (quails induced to molt by fasting and not inoculated with SE); and CNI (quails fed with a laying feed and not inoculated with SE). Feces, cloacal swabs, and eggs were collected on day 1, 3, 7 and 14 post-inoculation (dpi) and submitted to bacteriological analyses. All samples obtained from cloacal swabs were negative for SE. None of the quails of the non-inoculated groups (FNI and CNI) were positive for SE in the fecal samples. Among the inoculated quails, the FI group presented significantly higher (p< 0.05) SE shedding in the feces on 1 dpi than the CI group. On 4 dpi, no significant difference was observed (p< 0.05) in SE shedding between the inoculated quail groups. On 7 dpi, only the FI group shed SE in the feces, whereas on 14 dpi, none of the groups shed SE. According to the results, we concluded that quails submitted to molting by fasting have higher possibility of shedding SE in the feces.