Dc. Old et al., PHENOTYPIC AND GENOTYPIC DISCRIMINATION OF STRAINS OF SALMONELLA SEROTYPE EIMSBUETTEL FROM HUMAN AND ANIMAL SOURCES, Journal of Medical Microbiology, 46(7), 1997, pp. 617-622
One hundred isolates of Salmonella serotype Eimsbuettel from various h
uman, animal and environmental sources in six countries were typed and
shown to belong to five ribotypes, five biotypes and eight different
ribotype/biotype groups, one of which, ribotype 3/biotype 5, was repre
sented among isolates from all six countries, Most of the Eimsbuettel
isolates from Scotland belonged to ribotype 1/biotype 3, which was the
epidemic strain involved in a large outbreak centred in a Glasgow mat
ernity hospital in 1986. That strain was also responsible for almost a
ll the human infections that occurred in the west of Scotland in the y
ears of this study However, isolates from human cases in the east of S
cotland belonged to either ribotype 2/biotype 1 or ribotype 3/biotype
5, groups not found in the west of Scotland, Representatives of all th
ree ribotype/biotype groups causing human infection in Scotland were a
lso found among isolates from poultry or poultry-associated materials,
Plasmids were carried by only 14% of isolates and so provided little
additional strain discrimination, However, plasmid analysis suggested
that Salmonella Eimsbuettel of ribotype 2/biotype 1 had the potential
to enter the human food chain in the UK via meat or bone meal, animal
feed and poultry.