Molecular Relatedness of Salmonella enterica Typhimurium Isolates from Feces and an Infected Surgical Wound.

Purpose: Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium infection is common in foodborne diseases, but its isolation from surgical incisions is rare. Our aim in this study was to trace the transmission source of a surgical incision infected with S . Typhimurium in a Yunnan Province hospital patient and elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms of antibiotic resistance.

Methods: Primers were designed to amplify the drug-resistance genes using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Susceptibility to antibiotics was determined using Etest strips. Macrorestriction profiles were analyzed using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and XbaI. The two isolates were characterized using agglutination tests and multilocus sequence typing (MLST).

Results: MLST analysis revealed that S . Typhimurium isolates SM043 and SM080 belonged to the same genotype, ST34, and PFGE revealed that SM043 and SM080 had high similarity. The isolates were both resistant to third-generation cephalosporins. SM043 harbored the antibiotic resistance genes blaCTX-M-15, blaTEM-1, qnrS-1, qnrB , and acc-3 , whereas blaCTX-M-15, blaTEM-1, blaCMY-2, qnrS-1 , and acc-3 were detected in SM080.

Conclusion: The surgical incision infection by S . Typhimurium may have been hospital-acquired. Thus, it is critical to strengthen hospital sanitation by addressing hand hygiene and sterilization of the operational environment to avoid outbreaks of nosocomial Salmonella infections.