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To determine immunologic reactivity to Bacillus anthrax antigens, we conducted serologic testing of workers in a factory that performed scouring of wool and goat hair. Of 66 workers, ≈10% had circulating antibodies or T lymphocytes that reacted with anthrax protective antigen. Individual immunity varied from undetectable to high.

Culturable microorganisms from various samples taken at an active factory performing wool and goat hair cleaning were isolated and analyzed. Bacillus anthracis was found in air filter dust, wastewater, and goat hairs, where it accounted for approximately 1% of the total counts of viable bacteria. Consistent with the countries of origin of the processed material (South Caucasian and Middle Eastern), all B. anthracis isolates belonged to the same phylogenetic cluster, as determined by variable-number tandem repeat (VNTR) typing at eight loci. Within this cluster, five closely related VNTR subtypes could be identified, of which two were previously unreported. Additional diversity was observed when more sensitive genetic markers were assayed, demonstrating the multifocal nature of goat hair contamination. Goat hair originating from areas where anthrax is endemic remains a material with high biological risk for modern woolworkers.

The commercial PremiTest Salmonella kit uses a multiplexed DNA typing test aimed at identifying common serovars of Salmonella enterica. It was used in assays over a 9-month period in the Belgian reference laboratory that performs the routine identification of Salmonella strains of animal origin. A blind analysis of 754 strains was conducted in parallel by classical serotyping and the PremiTest assay. Full results were available for 685 strains (90.8%) by serotyping, while the remaining 69 strains were found to be nontypeable due to either a lack of surface antigen expression or autoagglutination properties. When the PremiTest assay (version 4.2) was performed with crude bacterial extracts, it identified 658 strains (87.3%), including most strains found to be nontypeable by serotyping. In contrast, it gave no, wrong, dual, or noninterpretable results for 96 strains, for which 23 were caused by assay failures. When purified DNA instead of crude extracts were tested, the number of strains successfully identified to the serovar level increased to 714 (94.7%), while all assay failures were cleared. Our conclusion is that, in its actual development stage, the application of the investigated kit to purified DNA samples offers a valuable alternative to classical serotyping for laboratories performing the routine identification of Salmonella strains belonging to commonly encountered serovars and isolated from a given geographical area, assuming that the system has been validated beforehand with a significant number of strains originating from that particular area.

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