Lactobacillus plantarum Restores Intestinal Permeability Disrupted by Salmonella Infection in Newly-hatched Chicks

Salmonella infections in newly hatched chicks result in enteric and systemic diseases with a high mortality. Probiotics can improve the health of a host. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of Lactobacillus plantarum LTC-113 on the gut permeability in the presence or absence of Salmonella (Salmonella Typhimurium) infection. Newly hatched chicks were randomly allocated to 4 treatments (i) NC (negative control); (ii) LAC (the L. plantarum LTC-113-treated group); (iii) SAL (the Salmonella-infected group), and (iv) LAC + SAL (the L. plantarum LTC-113-treated and Salmonella-infected group). Compared with the NC group, the intestinal permeability and claudin-2 (CLDN-2) were significantly increased, while mRNA levels of zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) and claudin-5 (CLDN-5) were significantly decreased in the SAL group. However, these changes were eliminated in the LAC + SAL group. Additionally, numbers of Salmonella in liver, spleen and ceca were significantly reduced in the LAC + SAL group compared with the SAL group. Moreover, L. plantarum LTC-113 prevented the increase of inflammatory meditators myeloperoxidase (MPO), LITAF, IL-1β, IL-6 and inflammation scores induced by Salmonella. These findings indicate that L. plantarum LTC-113 can protect hosts from Salmonella induced intestinal barrier disruption by regulating expression of tight junction genes and inflammatory meditators and decreasing Salmonella colonization.

Surveillance and management of salmonella food poisoning

Reports of Salmonella Montevideo in UK chocolate have put foodborne disease back in the headlines. This article looks at the nature, prevalence and management of this public health problem and highlights the importance of surveillance.

Profile of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica (subspecies I) serotype 4,5,12:i:- strains causing food-borne infections in New York City

Strains of newly emerging Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica (subspecies I) serotype 4,5,12:i:- causing food-borne infections, including a large food poisoning outbreak (n = 86) characterized by persistent diarrhea (14% bloody), abdominal pain, fever, and headache, were examined. The organisms were found in the stool samples from the patients. The biochemical profile of the organisms is consistent with that of S. enterica subsp. I serotypes, except for decreased dulcitol (13%) and increased inositol (96%) utilization. Twenty-eight percent of the strains showed resistance to streptomycin, sulfonamides, or tetracycline only; all three antimicrobial agents; or these agents either alone or in combination with ampicillin, trimethoprim, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. None of the serotype 4,5,12:i:- strains showed resistance or decreased susceptibility to chloramphenicol or ciprofloxacin. On pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), the strains showed 11 or 12 resolvable genomic fragments with 18 banding patterns and three PFGE profile (PFP) clusters (i.e., PFP/A, PFP/B, and PFP/C). Seventy-five percent of the isolates fingerprinted were closely related (zero to three band differences; similarity [Dice] coefficient, 86 to 100%); 63% of these were indistinguishable from each other (PFP/A(1)). PFP/A(1) was common to all strains from the outbreak and 11 hospital sources. Strains from six other hospitals shared clusters PFP/B and PFP/C. PFP/C(4), of the environmental isolate, was unrelated to PFP/A and PFP/B. Nine band differences (similarity coefficient, 61%) were noted between PFP/A(1) and PFP/E of the multidrug-resistant S. enterica subsp. enterica serotype Typhimurium definitive type 104 strains. Whether these emerging Salmonella strains represent a monophasic, Dul(-) variant of serotype Typhimurium or S. enterica subsp. enterica serotype Lagos or a distinct serotype of S. enterica subsp. I is not yet known. Some of the phenotypic and genotypic properties of the serotype 4,5,12:i:- strains are described here.

Salmonella and Shigella species

Salmonella and Shigella are the second and third most common causes of bacterial food-borne disease in the United States and are a major global health problem. The prevention and treatment of disease caused by these organisms are complicated by the increase in multidrug-resistant strains and the lack of an effective vaccine. This article discusses the epidemiology, clinical features, and diagnostic techniques for both enteric pathogens.

Raw egg ingestion and salmonellosis in body builders

Four patients with Salmonella enteritidis infection are reported. All were body builders who regularly consumed substantial quantities of raw eggs. They presented with a severe febrile illness and diarrhoea--presumably reflecting a large bacterial inoculum. Advice regarding the potential hazards of raw egg ingestion has been repeatedly issued by the Department of Health--but this report highlights the fact that this practice continues in spite of this. The epidemiology of S. enteritidis infection in relation to raw egg ingestion is discussed.

[The pathogenetic therapy of patients with food poisonings and a complicated course]

The complicated and combined course of alimentary toxicoinfections are practically the main causes of all the lethal outcomes in these diseases. In this work the data on the recent progress in the rehydration therapy of acute enteric infections are presented. The authors established that combined forms constituted 15.3% and complicated ones constituted 2% of alimentary toxicoinfections. The results of the treatment of alimentary toxicoinfections combined with ischemic heart disease, hypertension and chronic alcoholism, as well as complicated by shock and pneumonia, are presented. The general principles of treatment in combined and complicated cases are the maintenance of the usual (under given conditions) volume of liquid for rehydration with the limitation of the rate of its introduction.

[The effect of oral rehydration therapy on pancreatic function in patients with acute intestinal infections]

The results of the study of the level of pancreatic hormones (insulin, glucagon, C-peptide and trypsin), carried out with the aim of finding out the character of relationship between hormonal disturbances and the state of carbohydrate metabolism, as well as the influence of oral rehydration therapy (ORT) with glucose-salt solutions on the function of the pancreas, are summarized. All subjects to be examined were divided into two groups receiving different kinds of ORT. The patients in group 1 (153 subjects) were treated with glucosolan and in group 2 (73 subjects), with sodium citrate in an amount of 2.5-5 lit. over the 6-hour period of treatment. The determination of the content of immunoreactive insulin, glucagon C-peptide and trypsin in the blood as the characteristics of the hormonal activity of the pancreas has made it possible to find out disturbances in the incretory and excretory activity of the pancreas in patients with acute enteric infections of different etiology. ORT with glucosolan and sodium citrate facilitates the restoration of pancreatic function in 65-70% of in patients with acute enteric infections of different etiology.

[Administration of super-ORS solution in the treatment of patients with acute intestinal infections]

Therapeutic effectiveness of an oral rehydration solution of the second generation Super-ORS based on rice and salt has been tried in 28 patients with food poisoning. Administration of the solution produced a marked clinical effect superior to that of the first generation solutions Glucosalan, Citroglucosalan, Rehydron.

Human infection with Salmonella dublin

Twenty-seven cases of human infection with Salmonella dublin were identified over a 12-year period at the University of California at San Diego-affiliated hospitals. Important epidemiologic risk factors were the ingestion of unpasteurized dairy products or treatment with nutritional therapy that included raw calf-liver extracts. Nearly all patients had underlying chronic diseases. Like Salmonella choleraesuis, S. dublin infections were associated with a high incidence of bacteremia (91%), metastatic sites of infection (30%), and mortality (26%) relative to other non-typhoidal Salmonellae. This pattern of disease expression may be related to a plasmid-encoded virulence factor common to both of these organisms.

Pathogenicity of foodborne Salmonella

Salmonella remains a leading etiological agent in bacterial foodborne diseases. Although human salmonellosis generally presents as a self-limiting episode of enterocolitis, the disease can degenerate into chronic and debilitating conditions. Antibiotic treatment of uncomplicated salmonellosis is contra-indicated because it tends to prolong the carrier state. Clinical management of systemic infections with newer drugs such as third-generation cephalosporins and quinolones is most promising, particularly in light of the increasing resistance of Salmonella to the traditional ampicillin, chloramphenicol and trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole therapeutic agents. Research into the development of effective vaccines from avirulent auxotrophic or from virulence plasmid-cured strains may ultimately facilitate the control of salmonellosis in human populations and in various agricultural sectors. Human salmonellosis reflects the outcome of a confrontation between humoral and cellular immune responses of the host, and virulence determinants of the invasive pathogen. Following an adhesion-dependent attachment of salmonellae to lumenal epithelial cells, the invasive pathogen is internalized within an epithelial cell by a receptor-mediated endocytotic process. Cytotoxin localized in the bacterial cell wall suggestively may facilitate Salmonella entry into the epithelial layer. Cytoplasmic translocation of the infected endosome to the basal epithelial membrane culminates in the release of salmonellae in the lamina propria. During this invasive process, Salmonella secretes a heat-labile enterotoxin that precipitates a net efflux of water and electrolytes into the intestinal lumen. Although non-typhoid salmonellae generally precipitate a localized inflammatory response in deeper tissues via lymphatics and capillaries, and elicit a major immune response. Current research efforts have focused on the molecular characterization and role of virulence plasmids and chromosomal genes in Salmonella pathogenicity.

[Clinical characteristics of the outbreak of Salmonella infection caused by Salmonella enteritidis]

The data are presented on an outbreak of salmonellosis induced by S. enteritidis. Gastrointestinal symptoms were recorded in 97.8% of 90 patients, 2.2% of them developed a generalized form. The disease ran a moderate course in 84.5% and a severe course in 2.2% of the patients majority of whom suffered from intoxication and dehydration. The therapeutic response was achieved upon rehydration treatment with crystalloid solutions.

[The adhesive properties of salmonellae in the dynamics of the infectious process]

In patients with toxic infections salmonellae were identified in 31% of cases. The patients were divided into two groups: the control group receiving treatment with infusion solutions and the test group treated, in addition to the usual scheme of therapy, with indomethacin in a daily dose of 150 mg. The study revealed that salmonellae isolated at the initial stages of the disease possessed highly pronounced adhesive properties. The adhesive properties of salmonellae isolated at the stage of convalescence from the patients of the test group were considerably less pronounced than those of salmonellae isolated from the same patients at the peak of the disease. In the control group no differences in the adhesive properties of salmonellae isolated from the same patients were established.

Economic impact of a nationwide outbreak of salmonellosis: cost-benefit of early intervention

The recognition and investigation of an outbreak of food poisoning in 1982 due to chocolate contaminated with Salmonella napoli enabled the food that carried the salmonella to be identified and four fifths of the implicated consignment of chocolate to be withdrawn. The economic benefits of prompt intervention in the outbreak have been assessed. The cost of the outbreak was over 0.5 pounds m. It is estimated that five deaths were prevented by the intervention and that 185 admissions to hospital and 29,000 cases of S napoli enteritis were avoided. This successful investigation yielded a 3.5-fold rate of return to the public sector and a 23.3-fold return to society on an investment in public health surveillance. A methodology is described that can be used to estimate the benefits of early intervention in outbreaks of foodborne illness and topics for further research are suggested. It is concluded that public health authorities and industry have much to gain by collaborating in the research into the design of cost effective programmes to prevent foodborne infections.

Morbidity and mortality in salmonella food poisoning. A review of 47 in-patient cases

Forty-seven new patients with salmonella food poisoning were admitted to the Infectious Diseases Unit at the City Hospital, Edinburgh, during 1975. Although all the patients had diarrhoea at some stage of their illness, the wide variety of presenting symptoms caused some diagnostic difficulties prior to the isolation of the organism. A probable predisposing factor to serious disease was recognised in 15 patients. Twenty patients (42.5%) were seriously ill and 4 patients (8.5%) died. This series stresses the potential severity of this common disease.