Estimation of the impact of vaccination on faecal shedding and organ and egg contamination forSalmonellaEnteritidis,SalmonellaTyphiumurium and monophasicSalmonellaTyphimurium

Zoonotic Gastroenteric Diseases of Exotic Animals

Exotic pet ownership has steadily increased over the last decade, and with increased numbers of these species in close contact with humans, the risk of gastrointestinal zoonoses has also increased. Non-typhoidal serovars of Salmonella enterica are one of the most prevalent and important zoonoses of exotic pets, and reptile and backyard poultry are common asymptomatic carriers of these bacteria. Outbreaks of reptile-associated salmonellosis have occurred yearly in the United States since 2019 but contact with backyard poultry has actually been associated with more Salmonella outbreaks in the United States than any other animal species to date.

Invasion inhibition effects and immunogenicity after vaccination of SPF chicks with a Salmonella Enteritidis live vaccine

Objective Meat and eggs from chickens infected with Salmonella Enteritidis, Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Infantis are considered to be an important source of Salmonella infections for humans. In order to control Salmonella infections in chickens, basic biosecurity measures are taken in combination with inactivated or attenuated live vaccines. Apart from an adaptive immune response, some live vaccines also induce innate immune mechanisms that prevent or inhibit systemic invasion with homologous Salmonella serovars. It is unknown whether these invasion inhibition effects are also directed against heterologous Salmonella serovars. Furthermore, it is unclear whether the adaptive immune response after vaccination with a Salmonella Enteritidis phage type 4 live vaccine is also directed against other phage types of Salmonella Enteritidis and Typhimurium.

Material and methods Specific pathogen-free day-old chicks were vaccinated orally with a commercially available Salmonella Enteritidis live vaccine. To test the invasion inhibition effect, the animals were challenged orally with a labelled Salmonella Typhimurium or Salmonella Infantis strain 1 day after vaccination. To demonstrate the adaptive immune response against non-phage type 4  Salmonella Enteritidis strains and a monophasic Salmonella Typhimurium strain, the chickens were challenged with Salmonella Enteritidis strains of phage types 1, 8 and 21 and a monophasic Salmonella Typhimurium strain (Definitive Type 193). After challenge, the abundance of the challenge strain in liver and cecal tissue was enumerated and compared with a corresponding control group.

Results Findings showed that the live Salmonella Enteritidis vaccine inhibits systemic invasion after early infection with Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Infantis. Furthermore, adaptive immunity against the tested non-phage type 4  Salmonella Enteritidis strains and the monophasic Salmonella Typhimurium strain was demonstrated.

Conclusion and clinical relevance The results of this study demonstrate that vaccination with the Salmonella Enteritidis phage type 4 live vaccine significantly inhibits the invasion of Salmonella Typhimurium and Infantis. Furthermore, an adaptive immune response was also detected against non-phage type 4  Salmonella Enteritidis strains and a monophasic Salmonella Typhimurium strain.

Response to a Salmonella Enteritidis challenge in old laying hens with different vaccination histories

Extending the laying period of laying hens is beneficial for economic and sustainability purposes. Because vaccines were designed with a shorter laying period envisaged, it is unclear whether current Salmonella vaccines can provide sufficient levels of protection against infection at an older age. The purpose of this experiment was to determine the efficacy of early rearing vaccination schemes against Salmonella challenge late in the laying period. There were four treatment groups: birds that had not been vaccinated (Group 1), birds vaccinated with live Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) (Group 2), with live and inactivated SE (Group 3), or with live SE and live Salmonella Typhimurium (Group 4). At the end of the laying period, the birds were transported from the laying farm to the research facility where they were orally challenged with 2.06 × 109 colony-forming units SE at around 82 wk of age. Hens were euthanized and bacteriology was performed on cecum, liver, spleen, and follicular fluid samples to determine SE colonization 7 and 14 d after challenge. Clinical and bacteriological findings of hens vaccinated with different vaccination schemes and the non-vaccinated control group were compared. No significant differences in SE colonization were found for vaccinated groups compared to the non-vaccinated control group. This may be a result of waning immunity due to the long time between vaccination and challenge. Also, as vaccination took place in the rearing period in the field, initial levels of immunity may not have been optimal due to shortcomings in the vaccination technique. Furthermore, the results of this study may have been affected by differences in age, breed, and origin between the groups. Therefore, controlled studies from early age onwards are necessary for more accurate comparisons between vaccines.

Shedding of Salmonella Typhimurium in vaccinated and unvaccinated hens during early lay in field conditions: a randomised controlled trial

Background

Salmonella vaccination is one of the control measure that farmers can use to reduce bacterial shedding in their flocks. This study aimed to examine the efficacy of the Vaxsafe® ST (Strain STM-1) attenuated live vaccine administered as ocular and oral doses followed by an intramuscular (IM) dose in rearing, in reducing contamination by Salmonellae of both eggs and the environment in the commercial multi-age cage layer sheds. A randomised controlled trial was conducted up to 26 weeks post last vaccine on two different multi-age caged egg farms.

Results

No clinical symptoms were observed following IM administration of STM-1 during rearing. Following the first two STM-1 doses, both vaccinated and unvaccinated birds exhibited antibody titres below the positive cut-off value, however after IM administration of STM-1, antibody titres in the vaccinated group were above the cut-off value. Wild type Salmonella Typhimurium was not detected during the rearing of pullets. During production, the antibody titres were significantly higher in the vaccinated group at all sampling points during this trial. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of Salmonella (detected by culture and PCR method) between the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups on the egg belt and faeces in early lay. Wild-type Salmonella spp. were consistently found in dust samples. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay was able to differentiate between the live vaccine strain and wild type Salmonella. The load of wild-type Salmonella in shed environment was relatively low (1.3 log₁₀ ± 0.48 CFU/m² of surface area).

Conclusion

Given that Salmonella Typhimurium and other serovars are able to survive/persist in the shed environment (such as in dust), regular cleaning and or removal of dust from shed is important. Use of the Vaxsafe® ST vaccine in multi-age flocks is “not an ultimate intervention” for reduction of Salmonella Typhimurium because of the complexities involved in achieving control, such as the efficacy of cleaning of sheds, the lack of resting periods between batches and the possible carry over of contamination from existing flocks. Hence implementation of more than one or several interventions strategies is essential.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12866-018-1201-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A Long-Term Efficacy Trial of a Live, Attenuated Salmonella Typhimurium Vaccine in Layer Hens

Salmonella remains one of the most common causes of bacterial foodborne gastrointestinal disease in humans. Raw eggs or food items containing undercooked eggs are frequently identified as the source of Salmonella. Salmonella Typhimurium contamination of table eggs most commonly occurs when they are laid in a contaminated environment. Several control strategies, including vaccination, are widely used to mitigate the total Salmonella load. It is unclear, however, whether live attenuated Salmonella vaccines are efficacious over the life span of a layer hen. Live attenuated Salmonella vaccines have been favored due to their ability to illicit a strong humoral immune response. The lifespan of a layer hen ranges between 60 and 80 weeks and the long term efficacy of attenuated vaccine strains has not been investigated. In this study, commercial brown layer chicks were vaccinated at day old, 6 weeks of age, and again at 10 weeks of age with the Bioproperties Vaxsafe^TM STM1 aroA mutant vaccine. Birds were challenged at 18 weeks of age with Salmonella Typhimurium DT9 (MLVA 03 15 08 11 550). Feces and eggs were monitored for S. Typhimurium for 40 weeks post-infection. Birds produced a strong immune response following the final dose which was administered intramuscularly. The serum antibody response to S. Typhimurium DT9 infection did not differ between challenged groups. Fecal shedding and egg contamination was highly variable and did not differ significantly between vaccinated and unvaccinated birds that had been challenged with S. Typhimurium DT9. Total bacterial load in feces was quantified using qPCR. No significant difference was detected between unvaccinated and vaccinated birds after challenge.

Virulence Characterisation of Salmonella enterica Isolates of Differing Antimicrobial Resistance Recovered from UK Livestock and Imported Meat Samples

Salmonella enterica is a foodborne zoonotic pathogen of significant public health concern. We have characterized the virulence and antimicrobial resistance gene content of 95 Salmonella isolates from 11 serovars by DNA microarray recovered from UK livestock or imported meat. Genes encoding resistance to sulphonamides (sul1, sul2), tetracycline [tet(A), tet(B)], streptomycin (strA, strB), aminoglycoside (aadA1, aadA2), beta-lactam (bla TEM), and trimethoprim (dfrA17) were common. Virulence gene content differed between serovars; S. Typhimurium formed two subclades based on virulence plasmid presence. Thirteen isolates were selected by their virulence profile for pathotyping using the Galleria mellonella pathogenesis model. Infection with a chicken invasive S. Enteritidis or S. Gallinarum isolate, a multidrug resistant S. Kentucky, or a S. Typhimurium DT104 isolate resulted in high mortality of the larvae; notably presence of the virulence plasmid in S. Typhimurium was not associated with increased larvae mortality. Histopathological examination showed that infection caused severe damage to the Galleria gut structure. Enumeration of intracellular bacteria in the larvae 24 h post-infection showed increases of up to 7 log above the initial inoculum and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed bacterial replication in the haemolymph. TEM also revealed the presence of vacuoles containing bacteria in the haemocytes, similar to Salmonella containing vacuoles observed in mammalian macrophages; although there was no evidence from our work of bacterial replication within vacuoles. This work shows that microarrays can be used for rapid virulence genotyping of S. enterica and that the Galleria animal model replicates some aspects of Salmonella infection in mammals. These procedures can be used to help inform on the pathogenicity of isolates that may be antibiotic resistant and have scope to aid the assessment of their potential public and animal health risk.

Challenges in Veterinary Vaccine Development and Immunization

In approaching the development of a veterinary vaccine, researchers must choose from a bewildering array of options that can be combined to enhance benefit. The choice and combination of options is not just driven by efficacy, but also consideration of the cost, practicality, and challenges faced in licensing the product. In this review we set out the different choices faced by veterinary vaccine developers, highlight some issues, and propose some pressing needs to be addressed.

Salmonella and eggs: from production to plate

Salmonella contamination of eggs and egg shells has been identified as a public health concern worldwide. A recent shift in consumer preferences has impacted on the egg industry, with a push for cage-free egg production methods. There has also been an increased desire from consumers for raw and unprocessed foods, potentially increasing the risk of salmonellosis. In response to these changes, this review explores the current literature regarding Salmonella contamination of eggs during the production processing through to food handling protocols. The contamination of eggs with Salmonella during the production process is a complex issue, influenced by many variables including flock size, flock age, stress, feed, vaccination, and cleaning routines. Currently there is no consensus regarding the impact of caged, barn and free range egg production has on Salmonella contamination of eggs. The literature regarding the management and control strategies post-collection, during storage, transport and food handling is also reviewed. Pasteurisation and irradiation were identified as the only certain methods for controlling Salmonella and are essential for the protection of high risk groups, whereas control of temperature and pH were identified as potential control methods to minimise the risk for foods containing raw eggs; however, further research is required to provide more detailed control protocols and education programs to reduce the risk of salmonellosis from egg consumption.