Retracted: Antibiotic Resistance in Salmonella Enteritidis Isolates Recovered from Chicken, Chicken Breast, and Humans Through National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System Between 1996 and 2014.

Abstract

The online e-pub version of the article entitled, Antibiotic Resistance in Salmonella Enteritidis Isolates Recovered from Chicken, Chicken Breast, and Humans Through National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System Between 1996 and 2014" by Paudyal N, Pan H, Li X. Fang W. Yue M., Foodborne Pathog Dis [Epub ahead of print]; DOI: 10.1089/fpd.2017.2402 is being officially retracted from Foodborne Pathogens and Disease (FPD) due to a significant number of errors in reporting and miscalculations of the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) datasets reported in the paper. Authors evaluated NARMS data, which are in the public domain, and analyzed a subset of NARMS data to address questions about a specific serotype of Salmonella in humans and chicken meat. Authors analyzed Salmonella Enteritidis isolates from humans, chicken and retail chicken meat, with their minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) to a range of commonly used antibiotics in the US collected over a period of 1996-2014 by NARMS, to segregate isolates based on their MIC value for a certain antimicrobial and evaluate their relationship along the foodborne transmission pathway. NARMS has data on more than 185,000 isolates that can be downloaded in an accessible format. To help make these large data sets more accessible, the NARMS teams continue to develop new tools to enable users to explore them according to their own interests. As a public health surveillance system, the goal is continuous improvement and open, transparent data sharing. The NARMS partners believe this is the best way to foster a collaborative effort to combat antibiotic resistance. After the online-ahead-of-print version of the paper, which used a subset of NARMS data, was published, a significant concern was brought to the attention of the Editor-in-Chief of FPD indicating that the article contained several significant errors which could potentially lead to a misunderstanding of the resistance situation in the United States. Of particular import is with regard to the authors of the paper reversing the poultry and human resistance data found in Figure 2, which displays the overall antimicrobial resistance data and is a central element of the article. The authors correctly state it in the text, but the figure is incorrect. Additionally, there appeared to be an accidental omission of a reference to a published article which shows a strong association between quinolone-resistant Salmonella Enteritidis infections in humans and international travel (O'Donnell et al., 2014) This appears to be a critical oversight given that the intention of the study was to analyze the NARMS data to help understand the dynamics of Salmonella transmission. The authors of the published article were notified of this communication by the Editor of FPD and were provided an opportunity to respond, which they quickly did. The corresponding author, Dr. Min Yue, agreed that after he and his team reanalyzed the data, there were indeed errors in the published paper and supplied revised versions of Figure 2 and supplemental Figure 3, as well as providing a significantly revised version of the manuscript, based upon the criticisms levied against the published paper. After giving the revised manuscript and figures very careful consideration, and after significant probing of his own, the Editor of FPD determined that the significantly revised manuscript, coupled with the multiple errors presented in the figures, is simply far too weighty for a correction statement to be issued, and determined a full retraction of the published article was warranted. It is important to note that there is no indication whatsoever that the errors or miscalculations were intentional, and that Dr. Yue and his team quickly and honestly replied to the concerns raised about their work. However, in the interest of upholding the proper protocols of peer review, and in accurate and truthful reporting in the scientific literature, the Editor of Foodborne Pathogens and Diseases is issuing this full and formal retraction of the article.