Characteristics of drug resistance and molecular typing of Salmonella enteritidis isolated in Shanxi Province

Abstract

Objective To investigate the antimicrobial resistance status and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns of Salmonella enteritidis (S.enteritidis) in Shanxi Province in order to provide references for the treatment of Salmonella infection and for tracing the source of outbreaks of foodborne diseases. Methods Sixty-four S. enteritidis strains were collected by monitoring sites for foodborne diseases from April 2015 to March 2018. Biochemical identification system and serotyping analysis were used for bacterial identification. Drug susceptibility patterns were analyzed with micro-broth dilution method. PFGE was used for molecular typing. Results The antimicrobial resistance rate of 64 S. enteritidis strains to nalidixic acid (95.31%) was the highest, followed by that to ampicillin (90.63%) and to ampicillin/sulbactam (81.25%). They had lower resistance rates to cefazolin, cefotaxime, tetracycline, ceftazidime, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxzole and ciprofloxacin (3.13%-23.44%) and were all sensitive to chloramphenicol, cefotaxime, azithromycin, imipenem and gentamicin. No statistically significant difference in drug resistance rates was found between the sporadic strains and the outbreak strains (P>0.05). All 64 S. enteritidis strains digested with XbaⅠwere divided into 33 molecular patterns by PFGE. The numbers of bacteria contained in each pattern ranged from 1 to 10 strains. The similarity among patterns was between 54.6% and 100%. Conclusion More attention should be paid to the drug resistance status of S. enteritidis in Shanxi Province. It is necessary to strengthen the standardized administration of antibiotics. The PFGE patterns of S. enteritidis reveal the presence of significant genetic polymorphism. PFGE is of great significance in analyzing the genetic relationship among S. enteritidis strains and in identifying and tracing the source of outbreaks of foodborne diseases. Key words: Salmonella enteritidis; Drug sensitivity; PFGE molecular typing