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Study highlights differences in animal and human Salmonella populations

Contrary to popular belief, animal populations are unlikely to be the main source of antibiotic resistant Salmonella in people, new research suggests. the study, reported in Science and conducted by researchers from 13 institutions worldwide, analysed drugresistant genes from over 370 Salmonella samples collected over a 22-year period and found that bacterial populations in humans and animals living side by side differed. the team sequenced Dna from bacteria taken from both humans and animals, mainly in Scotland, infected with Salmonella typhimurium Dt104. Comparisons between the genomic Dna showed that the bacterial populations infecting people and animals were distinguishable. they also noted that the number of cross-species infections was much lower than would be expected, indicating that these events are rare. ‘our data provide a very simple message, challenging the established view that local animals are the predominant source of Salmonella infections in Scotland,’ said nicholas thomson, of the Wellcome trust Sanger Institute, senior author on the paper. the paper suggests that, contradictory to the established view of drug-resistant strains crossing from animals to humans, Salmonella is largely maintained within separate human and animal populations, with limited crossover. the authors also found that the human-infecting bacteria had more varied combinations of drug resistance compared to the Salmonella found in animals, suggesting that a combination of imported foods and international travel could be causing the spread of antimicrobial-resistant strains. ‘this finding in no way undermines the importance of prudent antimicrobial use in all species,’ said Stuart reid, of the royal Veterinary College, another author on the paper. ‘But our study does demonstrate that greater effort needs to be focused on understanding the natural history of pathogens and on identifying the major sources of resistance in our global ecosystems.’