Foodborne Salmonella Paratyphi C Infection in Shandong Province, China
Paratyphoid fever is a life-threatening illness worldwide, which causes various infections with high mortality rates. However, outbreaks of type C paratyphoid have rarely been described. Here we describe an outbreak of Salmonella Paratyphi C infection in a middle school in China, 2023. A total of 66 samples were collected during the on-site epidemic investigation. Eleven S. Paratyphi C strains were recovered from students, canteen staff, and flies, and the antigenic formula is (6,7:c:1,5), of which six were from students, one from canteen food (Salad) and three from canteen staff. The antimicrobial susceptibility test results showed that 11 isolates shared the identical drug susceptibility profile. The comparative genomic analysis identified the outbreak strains closely related to the isolates detected in Kenya. Our data fill important information gaps concerning the food-associated outbreak caused by S. Paratyphi C.