{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]],"date-time":"2026-09-10T00:04:02Z","timestamp":1788998642371,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,20]],"date-time":"2020-04-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1587340800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pathogens"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Poultry is considered a major reservoir of human campylobacteriosis. It also been reported that not only poultry, but also wild birds, are capable of carrying C. jejuni, thus demonstrating to be a risk of spreading the bacteria in the environment. To gain insight into the population structure and investigate the antimicrobial resistance genotypes and phenotypes, we analyzed a collection of 135 C. jejuni from 15 species of wild birds in Italy. MLST revealed the presence of 41 sequence types (STs) and 13 clonal complexes (CCs). ST-179 complex and the generalist ST-45 complex were the most prevalent. Core genome MLST revealed that C. jejuni from ST-45 complex clustered according to the bird species, unlike the ST-179 complex which featured 3 different species in the same cluster. Overall we found a moderate prevalence of resistance to tetracycline (12.5%), ciprofloxacin and nalidixic acid (10%). The novel ST isolated from one pigeon showed resistance to all the antibiotics tested. The ST-179 complex (33.3%) was identified with significantly higher nalidixic acid resistance relative to other tested STs. Nine AMR genes (tet(O), cmeA, cmeB, cmeC, cmeR, aad, blaOXA-61, blaOXA-184 and erm(B)) and 23S rRNA and gyrA-associated point mutations were also described, indicating a concordance level between genotypic and phenotypic resistance of 23.3%, 23.4% and of 37.5% for streptomycin, tetracycline and quinolones\/fluoroquinolones, respectively. We recommend that particular attention should be given to wild birds as key sentinel animals for the ecosystem contamination surveillance.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/pathogens9040304","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,21]],"date-time":"2020-04-21T04:49:38Z","timestamp":1587444578000},"page":"304","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":22,"title":["Molecular Characterization and Antimicrobial Susceptibility of C. jejuni Isolates from Italian Wild Bird Populations"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2044-7024","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francesca","family":"Marotta","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell\u2019Abruzzo e del Molise \u201cG. Caporale\u201d, National Reference Laboratory for Campylobacter, 64100 Teramo, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7263-3814","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anna","family":"Janowicz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell\u2019Abruzzo e del Molise \u201cG. Caporale\u201d, National Reference Laboratory for Campylobacter, 64100 Teramo, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lisa","family":"Di Marcantonio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell\u2019Abruzzo e del Molise \u201cG. Caporale\u201d, National Reference Laboratory for Campylobacter, 64100 Teramo, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Claudia","family":"Ercole","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L\u2019Aquila, 67100 L\u2019Aquila, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Guido","family":"Di Donato","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell\u2019Abruzzo e del Molise \u201cG. Caporale\u201d, National Reference Laboratory for Campylobacter, 64100 Teramo, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giuliano","family":"Garofolo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell\u2019Abruzzo e del Molise \u201cG. Caporale\u201d, National Reference Laboratory for Campylobacter, 64100 Teramo, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8874-5856","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elisabetta","family":"Di Giannatale","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell\u2019Abruzzo e del Molise \u201cG. Caporale\u201d, National Reference Laboratory for Campylobacter, 64100 Teramo, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1017\/S0950268802007690","article-title":"The study of infectious intestinal disease in England: Socio-economic impact","volume":"130","author":"Roberts","year":"2003","journal-title":"Epidemiol. 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