Chromosomal Rearrangements in Salmonella enterica Serotype Typhi Affecting Molecular Typing in Outbreak Investigations

Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi strains belonging to eight different outbreaks of typhoid fever that occurred in Spain between 1989 and 1994 were analyzed by ribotyping and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. For three outbreaks, two different patterns were detected for each outbreak. The partial digestion analysis by the intron-encoded endonuclease I-CeuI of the two different strains from each outbreak provided an excellent tool for examining the organization of the genomes of epidemiologically related strains. S. enterica serotype Typhi seems to be more susceptible than other serotypes to genetic rearrangements produced by homologous recombinations between rrn operons; these rearrangements do not substantially alter the stability or survival of the bacterium. We conclude that genetic rearrangements can occur during the emergence of an outbreak.