June 6, 2022
Poultry Salmonella vaccine contributed to increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria
New research into the evolution of Salmonella bacteria in Brazilian poultry has found that introducing a Salmonella vaccine and increased use of antibiotics by farmers has resulted in more antibiotic-resistant bacteria strains, but they are unlikely to infect humans, Phys.org reported.
These findings are reported in a new study published June 2nd in the open access journal PLOS Genetics by Andrea Micke Moreno of the University of So Paulo, Brazil, and Alison Mather of Quadram Institute Bioscience, UK.
Salmonella enterica is a bacteria that causes food poisoning in humans and is frequently spread through contaminated poultry. Brazil is the world's largest exporter of chicken meat, and a team led by Micke Moreno and Mather wanted to see if the Salmonella strains found there were contributing to food poisoning cases in countries that import their products.
The genomes of 183 Salmonella collected from chickens in Brazil were compared to 357 Salmonella genomes collected from humans, domestic poultry, and imported Brazilian poultry products in the UK.
They also looked at over 1,200 publicly available genomes of the two main types of Salmonella found in Brazil to see what they could learn about their evolution.
The researchers discovered that distinct lineages of the two most common Salmonella types emerged in Brazil in the early 2000s, around the same time that the country implemented a Salmonella vaccine for poultry.
These bacteria have genes that allow them to resist three different antibiotics. Despite their rise in Brazil, antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the UK have only caused a few cases of Salmonella in humans and have not spread to domestic chickens.
Overall, these findings suggest that the use of the Salmonella vaccine in Brazil, combined with increased antibiotic use, facilitated the rise of drug-resistant Salmonella strains, but that these bacteria have not resulted in an increase in food poisoning cases in the UK.
The researchers emphasise that their analysis of Salmonella genomes from a variety of sources in Brazil and the UK highlights the importance of a "One Health" approach to disease, which entails collaborative, multidisciplinary efforts to improve the health of people, animals, and the environment.
- Phys.org
