Occurrence of phage types of non-typhoid Salmonella serovar in the Slovak Republic 2000-2003

Salmonellae of non-typhoidal serovars are the most important pathogens involved in foodborne diseases in humans all over the world. The incidence rates of two major Salmonella serovars, i.e. S. enterica serovar Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) and S. enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium), in the Slovak Republic in 2000-2003 are given. Over the period studied, 829 S. Enteritidis strains and 258 S. Typhimurium strains isolated from patients with salmonellosis were investigated in the National Reference Centre for Salmonella Phage Typing. The S. Enteritidis strains were differentiated into 16 phage types, with phage type 8 being dominant since found in 73.6%, 53.8%, 62.8% and 45.6% of strains in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003, respectively. The following most frequent phage types were 4 and 13a. New phage types, i.e. 15, 5, 25 and 14b, were identified from salmonellosis outbreaks in 2003. The S. Typhimurium strains were also differentiated into 16 phage types with phage type DT104 strains being prevalent and showing an increase from 7.4% in 2000 to 44.6% in 2003; 54.2% of them were resistant and of R type ACSSut. The second most frequent phage type in 2000-2001 was 2b in 2003 DT41. The frequency of the other phage types was not epidemiologically significant.