Faeces from 100 hooded vultures in the Gambia will be investigated for the presence of antibiotic resistant bacteria using selctive screening culturing methods followed by whole genome sequence analysis.

Faeces from one hundred hooded vultures in the Gambia (Banjul area) were investigated for presence of bacteria with extended spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL), carbapenemases and colistin resistance. No Enterobacteriales carrying carbapenemases or resistance against colistin were detected. In total 52 ESBL-producing Escherichia coli were identified. Fifty of the E. coli had ESBL phenotype and genotype harboring blaCTX-M genes, of which 88.5 % (n=46) were the blaCTX-M-15 gene, commonly found on the African continent. Furthermore, the genetic context around the blaCTX-M-15 gene was similar between isolates, being co-localized with ISKpn19. In contrast, cgMLST analysis revealed a genetic distribution over a large fraction of the currently known existing E. coli populations isolated from human, primate and avian sources in the Gambia. Hooded vultures in the Gambia thus have a high prevalence of ESBL E. coli (>50 %) with low diversity regarding key resistance genes. Furthermore, data from this study implicate hooded vultures as bio indicators for circulating antimicrobial resistant bacteria as well as vectors contributing to further dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes.