Popis: |
Background: Non-typhoidal Salmonella are major foodborne pathogens, posing serious challenges to public health and food safety worldwide. Salmonellosis in humans is commonly associated with the consumption of contaminated food, water, and direct contact with infected animals. This study aimed to characterize the distribution, diversity, virulence genotypes and antibiotic resistance of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Nigeria, isolated from farm animals in north central Nigeria.Results: We recovered 9 different S. enterica ser. Nigeria isolates from our sampling, eight from pig and one from chicken. The antimicrobial susceptibility testing against 15 antimicrobial agents showed variable resistance profiles. Whole genome sequence (WGS) analysis revealed that all 9 isolates contained a single mutation parC (T57S) substitution in addition to qnrB19, expected to confer decreased susceptibility to ciprofloxacin and tet(A) expected to confer resistance to tetracycline. Furthermore, two plasmid targets were also detected in all the strains, Col(pHAD28) and IncQ1. MLST analysis showed that all 9 isolates exhibited only one sequence type, (ST-4911) irrespective of the source of isolation. A SNP-based phylogeny indicates that the 9 isolates are highly related and lack other close relatives in the pathogen detection database.Forty core (housekeeping) and accessory virulence genes were identified from different virulence loci including Salmonella Pathogenicity Islands, virulence associated plasmids (pSV), chromosomes and fimbriae. Conclusion: This study provided valuable information on the resistance determinants, virulence genes, phenotypic resistance profiles, plasmids and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) of Salmonella Nigeria from food animals by WGS. Highlighting the significance of poultry and pig to the spread and emergence of Salmonella Nigeria in this region of Nigeria, therefore, there is the need for consumer's education and enlightenments on the importance of proper handling and preparation of food, this will reduce the potential risk of transmission of this pathogen. |