Consequences to international trade of chicken hatchlings: Salmonella enterica and its public health implications

Chicken hatchlings (CH) contaminated with non-Typhoidal Salmonella involves a degree of disease risk to the importing country. The potential national and international trade impacts from Salmonella enterica serotypes and repertoire of virulence genes garners attention because of its distinctive multi-drug resistant characteristics and its international spread which poses a threat to the public health. Eighteen Salmonella enterica isolates were recovered from the CH (imported: 13/110, 11.8% and domestic: 5/80, 6.3%). The serotypes that were recovered from the imported CH were Enteritidis (3/13, 23%), Typhimurium (2/13, 15.4%), Dublin (2/13, 15.4%), Shagoua (2/13, 15.4%), Hindmarch (2/13, 15.4%) and Inganda (1/13, 15.4%) and one untypable (1/13, 15.4%). From the domestic CH the serotypes isolated were Enteritidis (1/5, 20.0%), Typhimurium (1/5, 20.0%), Dublin (1/5, 20.0%), and Infantis (2/5, 40.0%). These strains were screened for 11 potential virulence genes (invA, avrA, ssaQ, mgtC, siiD, sopB, gipA, sodC1, sopE1, spvC, and bcfC) by polymerase chain reaction. All 18 isolates were resistant to at least one of 14 antibiotics used in this study. All isolates were primarily 100% resistant to lincomycin and 100% susceptible to ciprofloxacin and colistine sulphate. The high rate of resistance in S. Enteritidis strains, sometimes to multiple drugs, may complicate future options for treating human infections. The carriage of virulence-associated genes in these isolates suggests that they could cause serious disease and give rise to public health problems if they were to be dispersed in the general human population complicating future options for human treatment. The findings provide useful information for public health projects in Egypt and that the implementation of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS) to develop principles and guidelines in this area has become a must and that food control should cover both export and import.