[Study on the molecular epidemiology and antibiotic resistance of Salmonella enterica serovar Pomona].

Objective: To study the epidemiological characteristics and antibiotic resistance of Salmonella enterica serovar Pomona (S. Pomona).

Methods: Antimicrobial susceptible testing (AST) and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) methods were used to analyze on S. Pomona strains that were isolated from diarrhea cases through the diarrhea network monitoring program, environment and food samples in Shanghai as well as from reptiles in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Results: 4 553 clinic Salmonella (S.) strains were isolated from the Shanghai network laboratories from 2005 to 2012. The top 10 serotypes would include 20 serotypes all belonged to A-F groups, while S. Pomona was next to S. Wandsworth, according to the non- A-F groups. Young children seemed to be susceptible to S. Pomona, and might cause bloody stools and super-infection. The top 10 serotypes from 1 805 foodborne Salmonella strains were significantly more extensive than those from the human S. Pomona strains, followed by those rare serotypes which were mostly isolated from turtle, sea-shellfish and reptiles. Antibiotic resistance of S. Pomona strains from other sources were significantly more severe than those from human samples, and belonged to A and B clones by means of PFGE. Clone A strains were non-epidemic strains which showed multi-drug resistance (MDR) to antimicrobials. Clone B was the main epidemic-causing strain that not resistant to drugs, which consisting B- I from young-age-groups and B-II were from the seniors. B-I strains were homologous to those from shellfish, tortoises and lizards, while B-II strains only showing homology to those from shellfish. One S. Pomona strain-MDR, isolated from human was homologous to 8 antimicrobials.

Conclusion: S. Pomona was a quite common serotype among those rare serotypes, which showed higher pathogenicity to infants while genetic evolution might take place when comparing them with the strains isolated from the clinics in 2005. Surveillance programs should be intensified along with the early warnings systems on infections which were from seafood and reptiles.