From Eberthella typhi to Salmonella Typhi: The Fascinating Journey of the Virulence and Pathogenicity of Salmonella Typhi

Abstract

Salmonella Typhi (S. Typhi), the invasive typhoidal serovar of Salmonella enterica that causes typhoid fever in humans, is a severe threat to global health. It is one of the major causes of high morbidity and mortality in developing countries. According to recent WHO estimates, approximately 11–21 million typhoid fever illnesses occur annually worldwide, accounting for 0.12–0.16 million deaths. Salmonella infection can spread to healthy individuals by the consumption of contaminated food and water. Typhoid fever in humans sometimes is accompanied by several other critical extraintestinal complications related to the central nervous system, cardiovascular system, pulmonary system, and hepatobiliary system. Salmonella Pathogenicity Island-1 and Salmonella Pathogenicity Island-2 are the two genomic segments containing genes encoding virulent factors that regulate its invasion and systemic pathogenesis. This Review aims to shed light on a comparative analysis of the virulence and pathogenesis of the typhoidal and nontyphoidal serovars of S. enterica.

Defying the odds: Determinants of the antimicrobial response of Salmonella Typhi and their interplay

“…Although these studies have been strictly limited to the nontyphoidal serovar of Salmonella, it would be very interesting to extend the same in the Typhi serovar. Over the years, S. Typhi has undergone pseudogenization to optimize host specificity (Chatterjee et al, 2023). Elucidating specific similarities or differences in AP mechanisms due to pseudogenization will indeed open a fascinating area for future research.…”