Occurrence of Chlamydiae in Corvids in Northeast Italy.

occurrence has been largely evaluated in wildlife, showing that wild birds are efficient reservoirs for avian chlamydiosis. In this study, DNA extracted from cloacal swabs of 108 corvids from Northeast Italy was screened for by 23S real-time (rt)PCR. The positive samples were characterised by specific rtPCRs for , , , , and Cloacal shedding of was detected in 12 out of 108 (11.1%, 5.9%-18.6% 95% CI) corvids sampled. Molecular characterisation at the species level was possible in 8/12 samples, showing positivity in only one sample from a hooded crow and positivity in seven samples, two from Eurasian magpies and five from hooded crows. Genotyping of the -positive sample was undertaken via PCR/high-resolution melting, clustering it in group III_pigeon, corresponding to the B genotype based on former analysis. For genotyping, multilocus sequence typing was successfully performed on the two samples with high DNA load from Eurasian magpies, highlighting 100% identity with the recently reported Polish avian genotype 1V strain 15-58d44. To confirm the intermediate characteristics between and , both samples, as well as two samples from hooded crows, showed the chlamydial plasmid inherent in most and avian , but not in ruminant strains. The plasmid sequences were highly similar (≥99%) to those of the Polish avian genotype 1V strain 15-58d44. To our knowledge, this is the first report of avian strains in Italy, specifically genotype 1V, confirming that they are actively circulating in corvids in the Italian region tested.