Occurrence and molecular characterization of Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Enteritidis isolates from contaminated food samples from Palestine

Salmonella is one of the most frequently isolated foodborne pathogens. It is of major public health concern worldwide. Poultry meat and eggs represent an important source of Salmonellae organism for consumer health. This study aimed to evaluate the occurrence of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium and Enteritidis using multiplex PCR (mPCR) among isolates collected from the local market and to assess genetic relationships between isolates of S. Typhimurium, which was the only serotype isolated from the tested food samples. This was done using virulence factors profiling and fingerprint profiling by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD-PCR) and repetitive sequence PCR (REP-PCR) using enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC-PCR) and interspersed repetitive DNA sequence BOXAIR-PCR. The overall occurrence percentage of S. Typhimurium and S. Enteritidis out of 51 isolates was 54.9% and 0.0%, respectively. Only 13 out of 17 virulence genes were detected in these isolates. The occurrence of the detected virulence genes among these isolates was 100%, 50.0%,46.4%, 39.3%, 35.7%, 35.7%, 32.1%, 25.0%, 25.0%, 17.6%, 14.3%, 14.3%, 3.6% for invA, sopB, prgH, sitC, pefA, tolC, cdtB, msgA, sifA, iroN, spiA, ipfC and pagC, respectively. The remaining virulence genes were absent in all of the isolates. Based on the combination of the presence and absence of virulence genes, eight profiles were detected among these isolates, the most common genetic profile was V5 (each 32.1%). Based on this genetic profile at cut-off point 96.0%, both ERIC and BOX primers allowed for discrimination into 4 and 6 clusters or clones of 16 S. Typhimurium isolates, respectively. Results of PCR typing methods showed that, three strains clustered together using both ERIC-PCR and BOX-PCR typing methods and they had the same virulotype (V1), while other four strains also clustered together by both typing methods and had the same virulotype (V8). Contamination of food with Salmonellae especially with S. Typhimurium was high and indicated a bad microbiological quality of food. This emphasizes the need for rigorous public health and food safety methods to lower the human health hazard and risk associated with Salmonellae infection

Prevalence of Salmonella spp. in layer and broiler farms in Palestine in 2018, with special emphasis on Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis

Salmonella spp. are one of a major public health concerns worldwide, as well as it is the most frequently isolated foodborne pathogen. Human illness with Salmonella spp. is often due to the consumption of contaminated food of animal origin such as eggs or their products and poultry meat. The prevalence of this pathogen in egg-laying poultry farms and in broiler farms is an important public health risk factor. Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis has been the major cause of foodborne salmonellosis in humans. Data on the prevalence of Salmonella spp. in the Palestinian territories’ poultry flocks is lacking. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Salmonella spp. in local layer and broiler flocks, and to find out the rate of S. Enteritidis among the isolated samples. A total of 1180 cloacal swabs were collected from several layer and broiler farms from different locations in the West Bank, Palestine. Identification of Salmonella spp. was carried out using conventional and serological methods. Molecular methods using Polymerase Chain Reaction was used for confirmation of Salmonella spp., and to detect the presence of S. Enteritidis among the isolated Salmonella spp. Results of the current study showed that, the rate of Salmonella spp. in the sample tested from layer and broiler farms was 10.7% (65/608) and 4.7% (27/572), respectively. In addition, the prevalence rate of S. Enteritidis among other Salmonella spp. was 0.0% and 14.8% for layer and broiler farms, respectively. It is highly recommended that further studies should be conducted, including high number of samples with serotyping and molecular characterization of the positive samples.</jats:p

Prevalence of Salmonella spp. in layer and broiler farms in Palestine in 2018, with special emphasis on Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis

ΔΕΝ ΔΙΑΤΙΘΕΤΑΙ ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΗSalmonella spp. are one of a major public health concerns worldwide, as well as it is the most frequently isolated foodborne pathogen. Human illness with Salmonella spp. is often due to the consumption of contaminated food of animal origin such as eggs or their products and poultry meat. The prevalence of this pathogen in egg-laying poultry farms and in broiler farms is an important public health risk factor. Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis has been the major cause of foodborne salmonellosis in humans. Data on the prevalence of Salmonella spp. in the Palestinian territories’ poultry flocks is lacking. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Salmonella spp. in local layer and broiler flocks, and to find out the rate of S. Enteritidis among the isolated samples. A total of 1180 cloacal swabs were collected from several layer and broiler farms from different locations in the West Bank, Palestine. Identification of Salmonella spp. was carried out using conventional and serological methods. Molecular methods using Polymerase Chain Reaction was used for confirmation of Salmonella spp., and to detect the presence of S. Enteritidis among the isolated Salmonella spp. Results of the current study showed that, the rate of Salmonella spp. in the sample tested from layer and broiler farms was 10.7% (65/608) and 4.7% (27/572), respectively. In addition, the prevalence rate of S. Enteritidis among other Salmonella spp. was 0.0% and 14.8% for layer and broiler farms, respectively. It is highly recommended that further studies should be conducted, including high number of samples with serotyping and molecular characterization of the positive samples

Seroprevalence of Taenia saginata cysticercosis in the federal state of Lower Saxony in Germany

Based on ELISA results from randomly selected serum samples taken from 128 cattle from different administrative and urban districts in the federal state of Lower Saxony in Germany a seroprevalence estimate of Taenia saginata cysticercosis in this area was derived. This estimate was subsequently used to calculate the sample size required in an epidemiological study to determine the actual prevalence of this infection in the cattle population (n = 2 604 767) in this federal state. The sample size was calculated as 1518 and the samples were collected according to the distribution of cattle among the 48 administrative and urban districts in Lower Saxony. The samples were tested with an evaluated antibody ELISA. The results showed a positive antibody titre rate of 8.83% from the total tested samples

Differential diagnosis of cystic and alveolar echinococcosis using an immunochromatographic test based on the detection of specific antibodies

Human cystic and alveolar echinococcoses are zoonotic diseases caused by the larval stages of Echinococcus granulosus and Echinococcus multilocularis, respectively. As the diseases are co-endemic in many areas of the world, a simple and rapid test for the differential diagnosis of cystic echinococcosis (CE) and alveolar echinocoocosis (AE) is needed. Here, we describe the development of an immunochromatographic test (ICT) using crude hydatid cyst fluid and a recombinant 18-kDa protein (rEm18) as antigens for the detection of E. granulosus and E. multilocularis antibodies in serum samples. The ICT was evaluated with serum samples from 195 echinococcosis patients from different endemic areas in northwestern China. These included 144 from CE patients, 51 from AE patients, 67 from patients with other parasitic diseases, 13 from patients with serous hepatic cysts, and 60 from healthy individuals. The sensitivity and specificity of the ICT for CE were 91.0 and 96.9% and for AE were 98.0 and 99.3% with diagnostic efficiencies of 94.1 and 99.1%, respectively. No significant differences and high degrees of agreement were found between the ICT and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for both CE and AE. Five serum samples from cysticercosis patients and one serum sample from a healthy control were found positive for CE with the ICT. These findings indicate that this test allows for discrimination between both forms of human echinococcosis. In conclusion, the ICT developed in this study is a promising tool for the simultaneous detection and discrimination of CE and AE. This test will be useful for serodiagnosis of CE and AE in clinical settings and screening programs