Abstract The
growth of the
population of
cattle egrets (Bubulcus ibis) in the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha constitutes a threat to
public health and
biological diversity because of their competition with and
predation on native species and the possibility of
transmission of pathogens to
human beings,
livestock and native wildlife. The aim here was to search for, isolate and identify
serovars of
Salmonella in clinically healthy local
cattle egrets. Cloacal swabs were obtained from 456 clinically healthy
cattle egrets of both sexes and a variety of ages. The swabs were divided into 51 pools. Six of these (11.7%) presented four
serovars of
Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica
Salmonella serovar Typhimurium;
Salmonella serovar Newport;
Salmonella serovar Duisburg; and
Salmonella serovar Zega. One sample was identified as S. enterica subspecies enterica O16y-. Results in this study suggest that
cattle egrets may be
reservoirs of this agent on Fernando de Noronha and represent a
risk to
public health and
biological diversity.