Phage types of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis isolated in South Africa from 1991-1995

A total of 615 strains of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis (SE), rec eived from 1991-1995 at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute (OVI), were phage typed. Most SE isolates (54,7%) originated from poultry followed by h umans (28,5 %) and poultry eggs (9,6 %). Phage type 34 was the most prevale nt (40,5 %) of all isolates, followed by phage type 4 (33,8 %). Other phage types identified were 1, 1b, 4a, 7, 7a, 9a, 14, 24, 24var and 35 (in total 2,4% of isolates). Most isolates of SE were received from the Western Cape Province (47,4 %) and Gauteng (22,3 %). In poultry phage type 4 was domina nt, but in humans, eggs, goats, ducks, sheep, pigs and rabbits, phage type 34 was the dominant type. It appeared as if the poultry-associated epidemic of SE in South Africa that occurred from 1991-1995 originated in the Weste rn Cape Province during 1991 amongst poultry and then spread from there to humans and eggs and then to the rest of the country, where it emerged durin g 1993. Results indicate that phage type 34 was the dominant phage type fro m 1991-1993, but during 1994-1995 its presence declined. During this latter period the presence of phage type 4 increased. This may suggest that two s maller epidemics consisting of the two different phage types might have bee n responsible for the epidemic that occurred from 1991-1995.