The chicken, the egg and Salmonella enteritidis

Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis is the cause of the food-borne salm onellosis pandemic in humans, in part because it has the unique ability to contaminate eggs without causing discernible illness in the birds infected. The infection route to humans involves colonization, survival and multipli cation of the pathogen in the hen house environment, the bird and, finally, the egg. This review highlights the stages of transmission and discusses e vidence that altered bacterial growth patterns and specific cell surface ch aracteristics contribute to the adaptation of S. enteritidis to these diver se environments.