Multistate outbreak of human Salmonella Typhimurium infections linked to live poultry from agricultural feed stores and mail-order hatcheries, United States 2013

Abstract

Live poultry-associated salmonellosis is an emerging public health issue in the United States. Public and animal health officials collaborated to investigate one of the largest (356 cases, 39 states) of these outbreaks reported to date. A case was defined as illness in a person infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium with illness onset between 1 March and 22 October 2013. The median patient age was seven years (range: < 1–87 years); 58% of ill persons were children ≤ 10 years, 51% were female, 25% were hospitalized; 189 (76%) of 250 patients reported live poultry exposure in the week before illness; and 149 (95%) of 157 reported purchasing live poultry from agricultural feed stores. Traceback investigations identified 18 live poultry sources, including 16 mail-order hatcheries. Environmental sampling was conducted at two mail-order hatcheries. One (2.5%) of 40 duplicate samples collected at one hatchery yielded the outbreak strain. Live poultry are an important source of human salmonellosis, particularly among children, highlighting the need for educational campaigns and comprehensive interventions at the mail-order hatchery and agricultural feed store levels. Prevention and control efforts depend on a One Health approach, involving cooperation between public and animal health officials, industry, health professionals, and consumers.

Antimicrobial resistance in fecal Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica isolates: a two-year prospective study of small poultry flocks in Ontario, Canada

“…Our study evaluated AMR in fecal E. coli and Salmonella enterica isolates from birds from small flocks experiencing morbidity, mortality, or production issues, and found a relatively high frequency of resistance to antimicrobials commonly used to treat bacterial infections in poultry. Differences in flock characteristics, including [4,28], Bangladesh [29], and Chile [30]. The Salmonella serotypes identified in our study (Anatum, Indiana, Ouakam, Uganda, and Montevideo) are not among the most prevalent commercial poultry-associated serotypes (Kentucky, Enteritidis, Heidelberg, and Typhimurium) in Canada [31] or the United States [32], and they are less frequently associated with human salmonellosis cases in Canada [33].…”

Campylobacteriosis, Salmonellosis, Yersiniosis, and Listeriosis as Zoonotic Foodborne Diseases: A Review

“…Over a million cases of salmonellosis a year are estimated in the United States. Nearly 20,000 require hospitalisation and there are approximately 400 cases of death resulting from infection with Salmonella [ 89 , 90 ].…”

“…Infection with Salmonella may be a result of direct contact with infected animals or indirect contact via their environment. Also, the consumption of infected products or food prepared in an infected environment may account for food poisoning [ 89 ]. The main source of pathogenic Salmonella causing food poisoning in humans is eggs and egg products [ 113 ].…”

Prevalence and diversity of Salmonella isolated from layer farms in central Ecuador

“…Drag swabs revealed the presence of two different serovars in the sampled poultry farms: Infantis and Typhimurium. These non-typhoidal S. enterica serovars are commonly associated with poultry systems and are linked to outbreaks of foodborne illness (Anderson et al, 2016;Pui et al, 2011). Serovars vary in their persistence over time and geographic distribution around the world (Hendriksen et al, 2011), making further studies desirable in order to evaluate the variations in serovar persistence in the locations sampled in this research.…”