Zoonotic potential and prevalence of Salmonella serovars isolated from pets

Abstract

Salmonellosis is a global health problem, affecting approximately 1.3 billion people annually. Most of these cases are related to food contamination. However, although the majority of Salmonella serovars are pathogenic to humans, animals can be asymptomatic carriers of these bacteria. Nowadays, a wide range of animals is present in human households as pets, including reptiles, amphibians, dogs, cats, ornamental birds, and rodents. Pets contaminate the environment of their owners by shedding the bacteria intermittently in their feaces. In consequence, theyare thought to cause salmonellosis through pet-to-human transmission.Each Salmonella serovar has a different zoonotic potential, which is strongly regulated by stress factors such as transportation, crowding, food deprivation, or temperature. In this review, we summarize the latest reports concerning Salmonella-prevalence and distribution in pets as well as the risk factors and means of prevention of human salmonellosis caused by contact with their pets. Our literature analysis (based on PubMed and Google Scholar databases) is limited to the distribution of Salmonella serovars found in commonly owned pet species. We collected the recent results of studies concerning testing for Salmonella spp. in biological samples, indicating their prevalence in pets, with regard to clinical cases of human salmonellosis.

Salmonella Enteritidis Fatal Septicemia with Meningoencephalitis in a Tiger (Panthera tigris) Cub

“…On the other hand, asymptomatic carriers can shed Salmonella organisms for longer periods without being identified [ 15 ]. In addition, stress factors such as transportation, mixing or crowding, parturition, seasonality, concurrent viral or parasitic disease, sudden change of feed, or overfeeding can lead to an increase in the shedding load of Salmonella [ 40 ].…”

“…The presence of possible direct or indirect contact between susceptible species (humans and animals) of zoonotic pathogens is a sensitive point on which it is prudent to intervene by means of training, information, and prevention measures [ 40 , 41 ]. For instance, captive animals may be trained for different purposes, i.e., to interact with the public for educational demonstrations, for husbandry purposes, or for non-invasive medical procedures to be performed in non-sedated animals (e.g., nasal swabs, blood samples): these practices are contemplated to ensure more efficient and less impactful health control on the captive animal population [ 42 ].…”

Genome-Wide Searching Single Nucleotide-Polymorphisms (SNPs) and SNPs-Targeting a Multiplex Primer for Identification of Common Salmonella Serotypes

“…Salmonella enterica serovars Typhi (typhoidal) are restricted to humans, whereas nontyphoidal Salmonella (NTS) serovars are generalist pathogens with different hosts (wild and domestic animals), which express as asymptomatic carriers [ 4 ]. NTS Salmonella enterica, i.e., Enteritidis, and Typhimurium are the two major zoonotic serovars that cause illness, including diarrhea, gastroenteritis, septicemia, and other clinical syndromes [ 5 , 6 ].…”

Phylogenetic tree constructed of Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica isolated from animals and humans in Basrah and Baghdad governorates, Iraq

“…Salmonellosis is considered one of the most important zoonotic diseases (1)(2)(3). Salmonella is most likely to inhabit the abdominal lumen of wide-ranging vertebrates (4)(5)(6).…”