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. 2020 Feb;17(2):151-155.
doi: 10.1089/fpd.2019.2641. Epub 2019 Sep 30.

Salmonella Serotypes: A Novel Measure of Association with Foodborne Transmission

Ulzii Orshikh Luvsansharav  1   2 , Antonio Vieira  2 , Sarah Bennett  2 , Jennifer Huang  2 , Jessica Meaghan Healy  2 , Robert Michael Hoekstra  2 , Beau Benjamin Bruce  2 , Dana Cole  2
Affiliations

Salmonella Serotypes: A Novel Measure of Association with Foodborne Transmission

Ulzii Orshikh Luvsansharav et al. Foodborne Pathog Dis. 2020 Feb.

Abstract

Most nontyphoidal Salmonella (NTS) illnesses in the United States are thought to be foodborne. However, transmission routes likely vary among the different serotypes. We developed a relative ranking of NTS serotypes according to the strength of their association with foodborne transmission. We used Laboratory-based Enteric Disease Surveillance data to estimate the proportion of infections for each Salmonella serotype reported from 1998 to 2015 and Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System data to calculate the proportion of foodborne outbreak-associated Salmonella illnesses caused by each serotype. We calculated the ratios of these proportions to create a foodborne relatedness (FBR) measure for each serotype. Of the top 20 serotypes, Saintpaul (2.14), Heidelberg (1.61), and Berta (1.48) had the highest FBR measures; Mississippi (0.01), Bareilly (0.13), and Paratyphi B variant L(+) tartrate(+) (0.20) had the lowest. The FBRs for the three most prevalent serotypes were 1.22 for Enteritidis, 0.77 for Typhimurium, and 1.16 for Newport. This method provides a quantitative approach to estimating the relative differences in the likelihood that an illness caused by a particular serotype was transmitted by food, which may aid in tailoring strategies to prevent Salmonella illnesses and guide future research into serotype-specific source attribution.

Keywords: Salmonella; foodborne transmission; serotypes.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure Statement

No competing financial interests exist.

Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
FBR measures (point estimate and 90% confidence interval) for the 20 most common Salmonella serotypes ascertained from Laboratory-based Enteric Disease Surveillance data and ordered from highest to lowest overall FBR, by age group (<5 and ≥5 years), 1998–2015, United States. Note: y-axis changes per panel due to large range of FBR values. FBR, foodborne relatedness.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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