Molecular characterization of Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis isolates from humans by antimicrobial resistance, virulence genes, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.

Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) is a major serovar associated with human salmonellosis. A total of 425 clinical S. Enteritidis isolates of human origin were collected between June 2009 and September 2010 from North Carolina. The isolates were further characterized for antimicrobial susceptibility, antimicrobial resistance coding determinants, virulence genes, and fingerprint profiles to determine whether they were similar or different to the S. Enteritidis strain responsible for the human outbreak due to consumption of contaminated eggs. Ten different antimicrobial resistance phenotypes were observed with the highest frequency of resistance exhibited to ampicillin (n=10; 2.35%). The isolates were predominantly pansusceptible (n=409; 96.23%); however, seven isolates were multidrug resistant (MDR; i.e., resistant to three or more antimicrobials). Extended spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) coding genes (bla(TEM) and bla(PSE)) were detected in the ampicillin-resistant isolates, whereas a single MDR isolate tested positive for class 1 integron (1 kb). The majority of the isolates (n=422; 99.3%) carried the invA, mgtC, stn, sopB, sopE1, and sefA virulence genes. However, 37 (8.7%) and 46 (10.82%) S. Enteritidis isolates tested negative for the plasmid encoded genes spvC and rck, respectively. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) typing of 118 S. Enteritidis isolates by restriction enzymes XbaI and BlnI resulted in seven clusters, each with a discriminatory index (DI) of 0.715 and 0.785, respectively. The combination of XbaI-BlnI patterns generated a dendrogram with 14 clusters and a higher DI of 0.914. The PFGE profile of 80 isolates matched 100% with the S. Enteritidis strain that has been cited for the recent outbreak in the United States due to consumption of contaminated eggs. In conclusion, we identified a genotypic similar S. Enteritidis population in our study based on antimicrobial susceptibility, virulence gene, and PFGE fingerprint profiles.