One Health and Food-Borne Disease: Salmonella Transmission between Humans, Animals, and Plants

Microbiol Spectr. 2014 Feb;2(1):OH-0020-2013. doi: 10.1128/microbiolspec.OH-0020-2013.

Abstract

There are >2,600 recognized serovars of Salmonella enterica. Many of these Salmonella serovars have a broad host range and can infect a wide variety of animals, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and insects. In addition, Salmonella can grow in plants and can survive in protozoa, soil, and water. Hence, broad-host-range Salmonella can be transmitted via feces from wild animals, farm animals, and pets or by consumption of a wide variety of common foods: poultry, beef, pork, eggs, milk, fruit, vegetables, spices, and nuts. Broad-host-range Salmonella pathogens typically cause gastroenteritis in humans. Some Salmonella serovars have a more restricted host range that is associated with changes in the virulence plasmid pSV, accumulation of pseudogenes, and chromosome rearrangements. These changes in host-restricted Salmonella alter pathogen-host interactions such that host-restricted Salmonella organisms commonly cause systemic infections and are transmitted between host populations by asymptomatic carriers. The secondary consequences of efforts to eliminate host-restricted Salmonella serovars demonstrate that basic ecological principles govern the environmental niches occupied by these pathogens, making it impossible to thwart Salmonella infections without a clear understanding of the human, animal, and environmental reservoirs of these pathogens. Thus, transmission of S. enterica provides a compelling example of the One Health paradigm because reducing human infections will require the reduction of Salmonella in animals and limitation of transmission from the environment.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Communicable Disease Control / methods*
  • Foodborne Diseases / epidemiology*
  • Humans
  • Public Health Administration / methods
  • Salmonella Infections, Animal / transmission*
  • Salmonella enterica / isolation & purification*
  • Vegetables / microbiology*
  • Zoonoses / epidemiology*
  • Zoonoses / transmission*