The role of gulls (Laridae) in the emergence and spreading of antibiotic resistance in the environment

Abstract

The importance of gulls as bioindicators, reservoirs and vectors of Escherichia coli strains resistant to the older generation of antibiotics, broad spectrum cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones is reviewed in the following paper. The aim is to highlight the fact that they could be a hot spot for the development of new resistance types. Even though gulls do not naturally come into contact with antibiotics, they are omnivorous and they often eat food in agricultural, rural and urban areas so they can be infected with resistant strains from livestock or human sources which they can spread again into the environment. They may then come into contact with poultry kept under free range conditions. More intensive investigations of this subject are required, as well as the need to find accurate and reliable preventive measures, are demonstrated in the present paper.

Keywords::

• antibiotic resistance
• bioindicators
• Escherichia coli
• gulls
• reservoirs
• zoonotic hazards

Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by a grant from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Republic of Serbia, Project number TR 31071.