title: Similarities between Salmonella Enteritidis isolated from humans and captive wild animals in South Africa.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Salmonella is well recognized as an aetiological agent of gastrointestinal and diarrhoeal disease. Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis (Salmonella Enteritidis) is one of the commonest serotypes associated with foodborne illness. In South Africa, we compared Salmonella Enteritidis strains isolated from humans with gastroenteritis and strains isolated from captive wild animals, between June 2011 and July 2012.
  
  
  METHODS
  Bacteria were phenotypically characterized using standard microbiological techniques. Genotypic relatedness of isolates was investigated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  a diversity of 27 PFGE patterns amongst 196 human non-invasive isolates was shown; two PFGE patterns predominated and accounted for 74% of all human isolates. Human isolates showed a 12% prevalence rate for nalidixic acid resistance. Animal isolates from 5 different sources were investigated. With the exception of an isolate from a ground hornbill, all animal isolates (jaguar, crocodile, lion and poultry) showed PFGE pattern matches to a human isolate. Animal isolates showed susceptibility to all antimicrobial agents tested, with the exception of nalidixic acid resistance in isolates from the lion and poultry source.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data showed similarities between Salmonella Enteritidis strains isolated from humans and captive wild animals, suggesting a probable common source for strains from humans and animals.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Enteric Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Division in the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa. anthonys@nicd.ac.za.
authors.forename: Anthony M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Husna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ismail
authors.forename: Maryke M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Henton
authors.forename: Karen H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Keddy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D058889:Molecular Typing; D012480:Salmonella Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D012481:Salmonella Infections, Animal / Q000382:microbiology*; D012477:Salmonella enteritidis / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013019:South Africa
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents