Phage types of Salmonella enterica ssp. enterica serovar typhimurium isolated from production animals and humans in Denmark.

S. Typhimurium is one of the 2 most common salmonella serotypes causing human salmonellosis in Denmark. In order to illustrate the significance of different production animals as a source of infection, 1461 isolates were characterized by phage typing. The isolates originated from human patients and from cattle, pigs and poultry. By phage typing the isolates could be separated in 35 different phage types. Five types (10, 12, 66, 110 and 135) predominated and comprised 78.8% of the isolates. In humans, 57.3% of the isolates were phage type 12. This phage type was also predominant in pig herds and, to a lesser degree, in cattle. Phage types 110, 120, 135 and 193 constituted 86.5% of the poultry isolates while these phage types only made up 12.9% of the human isolates. The investigation showed that pigs are probably a major source of S. Typhimurium infection in humans in Denmark today.