Multiresistant clones of Salmonella enterica: The importance of dissemination

Abstract

Increasing anitmicrobial resistance among foodborne pathogens has prompted calls for the reduction of anitmicrobial use in livestock to prevent future emergence or resistance. In the case of Salmonella enterica, clonal dissemination may play a more critical role in regional changes in antimicrobial resistance in Salmonellae than antimicrobial selection pressure. Multi-resistant Salmonella Typhimurium definitive type 104 (mr-DT104) emerged from an unknown location and was disseminated globally during the 1980s and 1990s. Other clones of Salmonella Typhimurium and non-Typhimurium Salmonellae have demonstrated an ability to disseminate widely. The clonal epidemiology of mr-DT104 is in contrast with that of Campylobacter jejuni, in which antimicrobial resistance is polyclonal and seems to develop in response to local antimicrobial pressures. The epidemiology of mr-DT104 is more similar to that of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which is also characterized by international transmission of a few clonal subtypes. Control measures for multiresistant disseminated clones of Salmonellae must focus on the interruption of dissemination in order to be effective.