Salmonella

Salmonella sp.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Bacteria Phylum: Proteobacteria Class: Gamma Proteobacteria Order: Enterobacteriales Family: Enterobacteriaceae Genus: Salmonella Lignieres 1900
Species
Salmonella bongori Salmonella enterica Salmonella arizonae Salmonella enteritidis Salmonella typhi Salmonella typhimurium

Salmonella (plural salmonellae, salmonellas, or salmonella) are any of the various rod-shaped, gram-negative, non-oxygen requiring bacteria that comprise the genus Salmonella (family Enterobacteriaceae), some of which are pathogenic. Salmonellosis is the name of a a group of infectious diseases caused by Salmonella, and includes typhoid fever, paratyphoid fever, and food poisioning.

Salmonella are fund in the intestinal tract of humans, and many animals, including domestic animals and birds, including chickens, ******

enterobacteria that causes typhoid fever, paratyphoid fever, and foodborne illness. Salmonella species are motile and produce hydrogen sulfide.

History

Salmonella was named after Daniel Elmer Salmon, an American veterinary pathologist, although it was his subordinate Theobald Smith (better known for his work on anaphylaxis) who first discovered the bacterium in 1885 from pigs.

Microbiology

Salmonella is a Gram-negative bacterium. In a clinical laboratory, it is usually isolated on MacConkey agar, XLD agar, XLT agar or DCA agar. Because they cause intestinal infections and are greatly outnumbered by the bacteria normally found in the healthy bowel, primary isolation requires the use of a selective medium, so use of a relatively non-selective medium such as CLED agar is not often practiced. Numbers of salmonella may be so low in clinical samples that stools are routinely also subjected to "enrichment culture" where a small volume of stool is incubated in a selective broth medium, such as selenite broth or Rappaport Vassiliadis soya peptone broth overnight. These media are inhibitory to the growth of the microbes normally found in the healthy human bowel, while allowing salmonellae to become enriched in numbers. Salmonellae may then be recovered by inoculating the enrichment broth on one or more of the primary selective media. On blood agar, they form moist colonies about 2 to 3 mm. in diameter. They usually do not ferment lactose.

Classification

Salmonella taxonomy is complicated.^, As of December 7, 2005, there are two species within the genus: S. bongori (previously subspecies V) and S. enterica (formerly called S. choleraesuis), which is divided into six subspecies:

• I—enterica
• II—salamae
• IIIa—arizonae
• IIIb—diarizonae
• IV—houtenae
• V—obsolete (now designated S. bongori)
• VI—indica

There are also numerous (over 2500) serovars within both species, which are found in a disparate variety of environments and which are associated with many different diseases. The vast majority of human isolates (>99.5%) are subspecies S. enterica. For the sake of simplicity, the CDC recommend that Salmonella species be referred to only by their genus and serovar, e.g.,

Salmonella typhi

instead of the more technically correct designation,

Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Typhi.

Salmonella isolates are most commonly classified according to serology (Kauffman-White classification). The main division is first by the somatic O antigen, then by flagellar H antigens. H antigens are further divided into phase 1 and phase 2. The full description of a salmonella isolate is given as (O antigens, Vi : H antigen phase 1: H antigen phase 2).

Note that, with the exception of typhoid and paratyphoid, salmonellosis is not a blood-related infection, as is commonly believed.

Examples:

• Salmonella Enteritidis (1,9,12:g,m)

(The O antigens present are 1, 9 and 12; the H antigens are g and m)

• Salmonella Typhi (9,12,Vi:d:−)

(The O antigens are 9, 12,; the H antigen is d: The Vi antigen is associated with the bacterial capsule, which acts as a Virulence factor, hence its name)

In a clinical laboratory, only a small number of serovars are looked for (the remainder being rare or not clinically significant). The Health Protection Agency recommend testing for the following antigens routinely:

• O antigens: 2 4 6.7 8 9 and 3.10
• phase 1 H antigens: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
• phase 2 H antigens: a b c d E G i r

Isolates that cannot be identified using this panel are sent to the reference laboratory for identification.

Prevention

The prevention of Salmonella as a food illness involves effective sanitizing of food contact surfaces. Alcohol has proven to be an effective topical sanitizer against Salmonella. Quaternary ammonium can be used in conjunction with alcohol as a food contact safe sanitizer with increased duration of the sanitizing action. Nonflammable Alcohol Vapor in carbon dioxide NAV-CO2 systems or sodium hypochlorite are frequently used to sanitize surfaces to prevent Salmonella.

Salmonella-associated diseases

Disease-causing Salmonella species have recently been re-classified into a single species, Salmonella enterica, which has numerous serovars. Salmonella Typhi causes typhoid fever. Other salmonellae are frequent causes of foodborne illness, especially from poultry and raw eggs and more generally from food that has been cooked or frozen, and not eaten straight away. While these infections would normally only require a treatment of antibiotics, the overuse of antibiotics in both the poultry and beef industries have created a strain of salmonella which is potentially resistant to antibiotics.

Salmonellosis can also be caught by handling reptiles, such as iguanas or terrapins. A CDC study also noted cases of salmonellosis in 2003 and 2004 associated with handling commercially distributed pet rodents. [1]

See also

• List of foodborne illness outbreaks

External links

• Salmonella as an emerging pathogen from IFAS
• Notes on Salmonella nomenclature
• Background on Salmonella from the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture
• Sequenced Salmonella genomes

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