Bacterial and Parasitic Profiling of native pigeons in District Lahore-Pakistan

Many places in District Lahore such as parks, streets and our homes where people keep pigeons in captivity are highly contaminated with pigeon feces. The study was conducted for the bacterial and parasitic profiling of native pigeons, as the drooping's of the pigeons might be the cause of zoonotic bacterial and parasitic contamination. During the study 200 fecal samples of native pigeons, 100 in captivity and free roaming each were collected and examined in the laboratory. The fecal samples collected were subjected to enrichment and bacterial culturing on tetrathionate broth (TTB) and Brilliant Green Agar plates for the isolation of Salmonella spp. because of its zoonotic importance and cause diarrhea in humans. The isolated Salmonella spp. pure culture was subjected to DNA extraction from the culture for Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Similarly for the parasitic identification the collected samples were processed for Giardia spp. Eimeria spp. and Heterakis spp. as they also cause diarrhea in humans. The fecal sample were processed for Direct smear method and Salt floatation Technique. The McMaster Technique was used to check the parasitic load. The results showed that out of 200 samples 99 (49.5%) samples were positive for Salmonella spp. contamination. Whereas 28% were positive for salmonella spp. which were in captivity and 71% of free roaming pigeons were positive. Similarly 136 (68%) samples were positive for zoonotic parasite. In 136 positive samples 52% were positive for Giardia spp. 10.5% for Eimeria spp. and 5.5% were infected with Heterakis spp. The results also showed that the pigeon kept in captivity were less infected to Giardia spp. Eimeria spp. and Heterakis spp. as compared to free roaming pigeons. During the study the survey was also conducted from the owners of the captive pigeons to check the zoonotic importance of the bacterium and parasites identified from the fecal sample which were the cause of contamination. The survey showed that out of 100 captive pigeon owners 36 owners or their families were continuously subjected to diarrheal problems at least thrice in a month. The present study was helpful in the profiling of bacterial and parasitic load in pigeons in captivity as well as free roaming. It also showed the zoonotic importance of the bacteria and parasite which should be studied properly in relation to human and pigeons in future.