Distribution of Salmonella enteritidis phage types in Canada

The distribution of Salmonella enteritidis phage types in Canada is described; 606 of 674 strains examined were of human origin. Typable strains of all sources, constituted 99.6% (671/674) of all strains examined, and were representative of 15 different phage types. Five phage types (8, 13, 4, 13a and 1) accounted for 92.4% of the total. Phage type 8 consistently showed the highest incidence in human (69.96%) and non-human (72.05%) sources and appeared to be the most common in North America. Phage type 4, the most prevalent in the UK, is infrequent in Canada (38/674). The distribution of phage types showed regional variation among infrequent phage types, whereas the common type, 8, was observed in different frequencies in all provinces. Examination of 29 outbreaks of S. enteritidis representing 254 isolates for humans revealed 5 different phage types, the highest number of outbreaks (11) were type 8. A study of these outbreaks and the animal-host-associations of the common phage types, 8 and 13, indicated that contaminated poultry appeared to be the most common source of human infection in Canada.