Increasing number of Salmonella Paratyphi B-Isolations from broilers received at the national Salmonella reference laboratory

In the last years the number of isolations of Salmonella enterica Subspecie s enterica Serovar Paratyphi B (S. Paratyphi B) sent to the national salmon ella reference laboratory of Germany has increased steadily. Most of the is olates originated from fowl or poultry products. The bacteriological, serol ogical and biochemical properties of the isolates were investigated. Specia l emphasis was given to the utilization of d-tartrate which subgroups the s erovar. All of them belonged to the d-tartrate positive variant, which is g enerally considered less virulent for humans and was formerly called S. jav a. The performance of various tests is compared and in addition the possibi lity of the spread within the production line is discussed.