Molecular epidemiology of Salmonella enterica serovar Kottbus isolated in Germany from humans, food and animals

Salmonella enterica serovar Kottbus has been continuously isolated from poultry and poultry meat, especially from turkey. We investigated by comparative molecular typing 95 S. Kottbus isolates obtained in Germany between 2000 and 2011 from poultry/poultry meat, pig/pork, cattle, reptiles, the environment as well as from human cases to identify potential infection sources for humans, especially the role of poultry and poultry products as vehicle in transmission of S. Kottbus isolates to humans. Multilocus sequence typing analysis detected three main genetic lineages. Most human isolates belonged to lineage 1 represented by sequence types ST212 and ST808. Part of the isolates isolated from cattle and pork were also linked to this lineage. Nevertheless, human isolates and especially isolates from poultry/poultry meat, and with less extend from other livestock, grouped in lineage 2 represented by ST582. Four additional isolates from reptiles and humans belonging to ST1669 represented the third lineage. The three lineages were also reflected by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis typing data and DNA microarray analysis of 102 pathogenicity genes. Antimicrobial resistance especially to nalidixic acid and ciprofloxacin was predominantly observed in isolates assigned to lineage 2, which contains predominantly resistant isolates compared to lineage 1 and 3. Sequencing of the quinolone resistance-determining region of gyrA revealed a point mutation in codon 83 or 87 responsible for nalidixic acid resistance and MIC values for ciprofloxacin between 0.125 and 0.25 mg/l. Overall, this study showed that in Germany a specific S. Kottbus lineage (ST582), which is well-established in poultry, can be transmitted to humans by poultry meat and, consequently, poses a risk for human health.