Human infection with Salmonella choleraesuis in Hong Kong

Abstract

The literature of human infection with Salmonella choleraesuis in China was fully reviewed with special reference to those written in Chinese language which are inaccessible to many readers. Compared with other regions of the world the ratio of S. choleraesuis to other salmonella infection in Hong Kong is high and is parallel to that in China. Dietetic habits of the local population apparently contribute to the high incidence. The clinical manifestations of 47 cases were outlined and details of the biochemical reactions and in vitro drug sensitivities of these strains were described. Two diphasic H2S-positive strains were encountered.

Application of ribotyping and IS200 fingerprinting to distinguish the five Salmonella serotype O6,7[ratio ]c[ratio ]1,5 groups: Choleraesuis sensu stricto, Choleraesuis var. Kunzendorf, Choleraesuis var. Decatur, Paratyphi C, and Typhisuis

“…Choleraesuis does not have a strict host specificity for swine and it is reported to cause enteric and other diseases in humans [14][15][16][17]. In the first decades of this century Choleraesuis infection in man was much commoner in the US than now.…”

Host adapted serotypes of Salmonella enterica

“…However, it does naturally infect other host species, including man, in which the disease can be severe [15,97,98]. Over the last 20 years the incidence of Choleraesuis in Europe has remained low whereas the incidence in the US has increased and Choleraesuis is responsible for 95 % of salmonella outbreaks in the pig industry and represents a major swine disease that costs an estimated $100 million per annum [99,100].…”

“…Later, Kunzendorf variety became the most frequent serotype associated with disease in swine in both Europe and US, where it caused swine paratyphoid. This serotype was also frequently isolated in China, where Choleraesuis, predominantly the nonKunzendorf variety, seemed to have a higher incidence in man than in the rest of the world [97,98]. Potential differences in pathogenicity and host adaptation between the two varieties have not been evaluated to date.…”

“…Human infections by Choleraesuis, although uncommon, tend to present as septicaemia and affect mostly young and debilitated persons. The bacteria are isolated more frequently from blood, bone marrow, and vascular lesions than from faeces [98,103]. Infection may also be complicated by pneumonia, arthritis, aortitis, and endocarditis [104][105][106].…”

“…In humans, typhoid and non-typhoid Salmonella strains that provoke systemic infection persist in macrophage-rich organs for example in the liver, where they may rarely cause salmonella hepatitis, and in the bone marrow [209]. Infection may be responsible for thrombocytopoenia, anaemia, leucopaenia, or pancytopaenia [62,64,210], and it is found associated with granulomatous inflammation [210] and bone abscesses [97,98,211]. Bone marrow localization of salmonella in other animals frequently affected by this micro-organism, such as cattle, sheep and poultry have not been described, although only few reports are available [212].…”