Salmonella infection in grey seals (Halichoerus grypus), a marine mammal sentinel species : pathogenicity and molecular typing of Salmonella strains compared with human and livestock isolates
Abstract
Microbial pollution of the marine environment through land-sea transfer of human and livestock pathogens is of concern. Salmonella was isolated from rectal swabs of free-ranging and stranded grey seal pups (21.1%; 37/175) and compared to strains from the same serovars isolated from human clinical cases, livestock, wild mammals and birds in Scotland, UK to characterise possible transmission routes using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multi-locus variable number of tandem repeat (MLVA) analyses. A higher prevalence of Salmonella was found in pups exposed to sea-water, suggesting that this may represent a source of this pathogen. Salmonella Bovismorbificans was the most common isolate (18.3% pups; 32/175) and was indistinguishable from isolates found in Scottish cattle. Salmonella Typhimurium was infrequent (2.3% pups; 4/175), mostly similar to isolates found in garden birds and, in one case, identical to a highly multidrug resistant strain isolated from a human child. Salmonella Haifa was rare (1.1% pups; 2/175) but isolates were indistinguishable from that of a human clinical isolate. These results suggest that S. Bovismorbificans may circulate between grey seal and cattle populations and that both S. Typhimurium and S. Haifa isolates are shared with humans, raising concerns of microbial marine pollution.
Citation
Baily , J L , Foster , G , Brown , D , Davison , N , Coia , J E , Watson , E , Pizzi , R , Willoughby , K , Hall , A J & Dagleish , M P 2016 , ' Salmonella infection in grey seals ( Halichoerus grypus ), a marine mammal sentinel species : pathogenicity and molecular typing of Salmonella strains compared with human and livestock isolates ' , Applied and Environmental Microbiology , vol. 18 , no. 3 , pp. 1078-1087 . https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.13219
Publication
Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0099-2240Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2016, Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at onlinelibrary.wiley.com / https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.13219
Description
This work and JLB’s PhD studentship were funded by the Moredun Research Institute and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.Collections
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