The coronavirus pandemic has served as a stark and tragic example of how closely animal health and human health are linked. Think about what we’ve seen in the last three years:
- Covid found in about 29 animal types <Link>
- HPAI spreading from wild fowl to poultry and now to eagles and other wild birds
- We’re just learning a MRSA strain may have been transferred from humans to hedgehogs.
- Growing population of feral hogs could become a reservoir for swine flu, PRRS and more.
European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) are common wild species living in urban areas. They were recently found to be a natural reservoir of MRSA. Now a highly transmissible strain of the antibiotic-resistant superbug methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been isolated from hedgehogs in Helsinki, Finland. The MRSA strain is currently plaguing hospitals in northern Europe.
Research findings suggest a spillover of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria and genes to urban wildlife. This is signal to assertively monitor prevalence to limit the global emergence of novel antimicrobial resistance traits in the future.
Source: IDSE Special Edition, April 22, 2022. Link.
Our findings could indicate a spillover of antimicrobial resistance from human sources to urban wildlife, possibly creating secondary reservoirs in the environment from where clinically significant resistance may spread elsewhere.” – Venla Johansson
Also see: Wildlife is overlooked in the epidemiology of medially important antibiotic resistant bacteria, American Society for Microbiology Journals, July 2019. Link.
<BQ> . . . the spread of AMR bacteria in wildlife deserves considerable attention.”