We examined 974 samples (304 coriander, 212 mint, 258 carrot, and 200 radish) collected from vegetable vendors in two cities, Bareilly (n = 832) and Kanpur (n = 142), in northern India during the early summer season in 2004. Salmonella was isolated from 35 samples (9 coriander, 5 mint, 10 radish, and 11 carrot) while Escherichia coli was detected in 181 samples (67 coriander, 44 mint, 36 carrot, and 34 radish). None of the E. coli belonged to the O:157 serogroup. Five Salmonella isolates from samples collected at Kanpur (3 coriander and 2 mint) belonged to 4 different serovars of S. enterica ssp. enterica-S. Mons, S. Rottenest, S. Saintpaul, and S. Weltevreden. Thirty Salmonella isolates from samples collected at Bareilly (11 carrot, 10 radish, 6 coriander, and 3 mint) belonged to 7 serovars-S. Anatum, S. Bsilla, S. Newport, S. Saintpaul, S. Teko, S. Virchow, and S. Weltevreden. The majority (82.9%) of Salmonella isolates were multidrug resistant. One quarter of the isolates were resistant to >or=10 antibiotics. Based on antibiotic resistance patterns, 35 isolates could be classified into 23 resistotypes. None of the 35 isolates was resistant to streptomycin and ceftriaxone, while >80% were resistant to sulfamethoxazole, nalidixic acid, and kanamycin. Resistance to imipenem (>20%) and amikacin (>30%) was also common. The correlation between presence of Salmonella and E. coli on raw vegetables was not significant (p = 0.13).

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of Salmonella in the water used by Paan vendors in 11 North Indian cities. The analysis of 776 water samples and 120 samples each of preprocessed Paan (from vendor stock) and ready-to-eat Paan collected from Bareilly revealed that four of the ready-to-eat Paan and 34 of the water samples contained multidrug-resistant Salmonella strains. The isolates belonged to five different serovars, i.e., Salmonella Newport (1), Salmonella Paratyphi B (1), Salmonella Teko (1), Salmonella Virchow (3), and Salmonella Saintpaul (32), and could also be classified into 18 different resistotypes. All of the isolates were sensitive to cotrimoxazole, and 97.27% of the isolates were sensitive to chloramphenicol, imipenem, ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone, and neomycin. Multidrug resistance (against 5 to 18 antibiotics) was common, particularly for nalidixic acid (65.79%), cephalothin (68.42%), cefoperazone (57.89%), sulfamethizole (52.63%), furazolidone (65.79%), kanamycin (68.42%), doxycycline (50.00%), and cefotaxime (44.74%). Bacteriological analysis of 16 Salmonella-positive and 23 Salmonella-negative samples revealed that the presence of Salmonella in water samples had a negative correlation (r = -0.35) with coliform counts and a positive correlation (r = 0.55) with nonlactose fermenter counts. We determined that centrifugation was a rapid and cheap method for concentrating large samples of Salmonella. The presence of multidrug-resistant strains of zoonotic Salmonella on ready-to-eat Paan is a public health concern and may be one of the factors responsible for the hyperendemic status of salmonellosis in India.

Water-borne and food-borne diseases are common in summers and monsoons in India.