Epidemiological Analysis by Using Pulsed-field Gel Electrophoresis of Salmonella Enteritidis Outbreak in Factory Workers

Objectives: Salmonellosis is still being reported as the second most common food-borne infection of bacterial origin. Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serotype Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) and S.enterica subsp. enterica serotype Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) are the most prevalent serotypes. In our study, we investigated the food associated Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak in factory workers in Turkey. Materials and Methods: The same meatball that patients had lunch and dinner had caused food poisoning on July 2014, when 257 workers in the same factory sought medical care. Among 257 ill persons with diarrhea, abdominal pain, headache, fever and vomiting 48(19%) were hospitalized. Stool samples were smeared on Salmonella-Shigella agar (Salubris, Turkey) and Eosine Metilen Blue agar (Salubris, Turkey) plates and incubated at 37o C. Suspected colonies were selected for further identification on the next day using API 20E (BioMérieux, France). Results: Serotypes were found as S. Enteritidis (9,12;g,m;-) by agglutination test. Pulsed field gel electrophoresis have been used for epidemiological analysis of isolates and were found same S. Enteritidis PFGE pattern. PFGE analysis performed by XbaI enzymes. Antimicrobial susceptibilities were determined by disc diffusion method as recommended by CLSI. All isolates were susceptible to ampicillin, nalidixic acid, ciprofloxacin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline, kanamycin, chloramphenicol, gentamicin, ceftazidime and cefotaxime. Conclusion: All patients have been treated with ciprofloxacin 2x750 mg/day. After successfully treatment, the patients returned to work 7th day.