Correlation between Pathogenic Determinants Associated with Clinically Isolated Non-Typhoidal <i>Salmonella</i>

Abstract

Non-typhoidal and Typhoidal Salmonella are bacterial pathogens source of worldwide and major disease burden. Virulent determinants of specific serovars belonging to non-typhoidal Salmonella have been extensively studied in different models, yet the pathogenesis of this group of bacteria and the development of clinical symptoms globally remains underexplored. Herein, we implemented microbiological and molecular procedures to investigate isolate virulence traits and molecular diversity, likely in association with disease severity. Our results show that selected clinical isolates from a tertiary referring hospital, depending on the richness of the environment and isolate serotypes, exhibited different, and sometimes controversial, virulence properties. The tested strains were susceptible to Ceftriaxone (90%) with decreasing reactivity to Trimethoprim–Sulfamethoxazole (72%), Chloramphenicol (64%), Ampicillin (48%), Gentamicin (44%), and Ciprofloxacin (2%). Disc susceptibility results partially correlated with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC); however, special attention must be given to antimicrobial treatment, as a rise in multi-resistant isolates to Trimethoprim–Sulfamethoxazole (2/38 µg/mL), Minocycline (8 µg/mL) and Ampicillin (16 µg/mL) has been noticed, with two isolates resistant to Ceftazidime (16 µg/mL). By comparison to previous molecular epidemiology studies, the variation in the gene profiles of endemic pathogens supports the need for continuous and up-to-date microbiological and molecular reports.

Keywords

• non-typhoidal <i>Salmonella</i>
• virulence factor
• pathogenicity
• clinical isolates