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. 2017 Feb 10:45:3.
doi: 10.1186/s41182-017-0043-z. eCollection 2017.

Prevalence and characterization of Salmonella among humans in Ghana

Linda Aurelia Andoh  1   2 , Shabana Ahmed  1 , John Elmerdahl Olsen  1 , Kwasi Obiri-Danso  2 , Mercy Jemima Newman  3 , Japheth Awuletey Opintan  3 , Lisa Barco  4 , Anders Dalsgaard  1
Affiliations

Prevalence and characterization of Salmonella among humans in Ghana

Linda Aurelia Andoh et al. Trop Med Health. .

Abstract

Background: Non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) is a public health problem worldwide and particularly in Africa with high disease burden. This study characterized Salmonella isolates from humans in Ghana to determine serovar distribution, phage types, and antimicrobial resistance. Further, the clonal relatedness among isolates was determined.

Methods: One hundred and thirty-seven Salmonella isolates (111 clinical and 26 public toilet) were characterized using standard serotyping, phage typing, and antimicrobial susceptibility testing methods. The molecular epidemiology of common serovars (Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Enteritidis) was established by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).

Results: Twenty-two serovars were identified with S. Enteritidis, S. Typhimurium, and Salmonella Derby as the most dominant. One hundred and twelve isolates showed resistance to more than one antimicrobial. Fifty-eight (n = 58/112; 54.5%) strains were multi-resistant with low resistance to cephalosporins ceftazidime (8.0%), cefotaxime (4.5%), and cefoxitin (2.7%) with synergy to clavulanic acid indicating possible ESBLs. Isolates showed high resistance to trimethoprim (66.1%), tetracycline (61.6%), ampicillin (57.1%), sulfamethoxazole (46.4%), chloramphenicol (33.9%), and ciprofloxacin (25.0%). The most common resistance pattern of multi-resistant serovars was to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, sulphonamide, and trimethoprim. S. Enteritidis (18/43) strains reacted with typing phages but did not conform to any phage type with PT14B and PT4 as predominant definitive phage types. Six S. Typhimurium strains reacted but did not conform to any recognized phage type while seven were non-typable. The predominant definitive phage types were DT1 and DT22. PFGE patterns of human S. Enteritidis were closely related to patterns of poultry isolates obtained in a previous study in Ghana.

Conclusions: Cephalosporin resistance is uncommon among Salmonella from humans in Ghana. Poultry may be an important source of human salmonellosis. There is an urgent need for the implementation of routine surveillance of antimicrobial use and bacterial resistance among humans in Ghana.

Keywords: Antibiotic resistance; Ghana; Phage types; Salmonella; Serotypes.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Dendrogram of cluster analysis of S. Enteritidis strains from human (B/S, blood, stool, and fecal sludge) and poultry (feces and dust) generated with gel Compar Software using unweighted pair-group arithmetic means (UPGMA) methods with 2.0% band position tolerance and 0.50% optimization parameter. n = not determined
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Dendrogram of cluster analysis of S. Typhimurium strains from human (B/S, blood, stool, and fecal sludge) and poultry generated with gel Compar Software using unweighted pair-group arithmetic means (UPGMA) methods with 2.0% band position tolerance and 0.50% optimization parameter. n = not determined
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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