Abstract Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is increasingly reported in wildlife, yet evidence from Africa remains fragmented. We conducted a systematic review of AMR in African wildlife, screening 4,802 records and including 61 studies from 21 countries. Phenotypic testing was performed in all studies, primarily using disk diffusion (82%), with genotypic assays in 86.8%. Across 4,669 bacterial isolates from 27 eligible studies, the pooled prevalence of phenotypic resistance was 59% (95% CI: 34–80%), with substantial heterogeneity (I² = 97.4%). Wild birds exhibited the highest pooled prevalence (93%), followed by non-human primates (35%) and herbivores (25%). Escherichia coli (20 studies and 3414 isolates) showed a pooled resistance prevalence of 62%. Pooled multidrug resistance was 23.1% (9 studies and 1128 isolates). Sampling was predominantly opportunistic and concentrated in human-impacted environments, limiting ecological inference. These findings highlight significant AMR occurrence across diverse wildlife taxa and substantial gaps in surveillance, coverage, and methodological consistency.
Mwangi et al. (Mon,) studied this question.