Urban wildlife such as birds and bats may be spreading superbugs around the cities of developing nations and beyond because of poor management of human and animal waste, researchers have warned.

A study in the Lancet Planetary Health journal shows that seed-eating birds, scavenging birds such as storks and fruit bats in Nairobi, Kenya, carry high levels of bacteria such as E. Coli that are resistant to antibiotics.

And if these bugs are passed to migrating birds they could be carried all the way to Europe, one of the authors of the paper said.

While the study does not show that these resistant bacteria have been passed from wildlife to humans the study warns that a superbug could emerge from the “brew” of wildlife, livestock and humans that live cheek by jowl in the sprawling cities of developing nations.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an increasing global threat, with a recent report from the United Nations warning that if left unchecked it could kill 10 million people by 2050.

Researchers from the University of Liverpool and the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi took faeces samples from wildlife, livestock and humans in household compounds across the city – from urban slums to the most affluent areas.