| Salmonella spp. are considered to be one of the most common causes of food borne bacterial infections in humans. Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica includes more than 1400 non-typhoid serovars of which only a small amount counts for the majority of poultry asscociated isolates, namely S. Enteritidis, S. Typhimurium and S. Infantis. Although a reduction in infections with Salmonella can be observed over the last years the latest EFSA report (2016) announced an increase in human infections caused beside S. Enteritidis, S. Typhimurium mainly by S. Infantis. In Austria the same trend can be recognized ranking S. Infantis within the 4 most isolated serovars in humans. Poultry meat is regarded as the main reservoir for human infections. Over the last years, S. Infantis is found to be the most prevalent serovar in broilers in the EU. Eradication of S. Infantis from infected broiler flocks is hardly successful even by applying strict cleaning and desinfection procedures. A view publication indicated a higher tenacity of S. Infantis compared to other S. serovars.
With the present study a focus will be on the in-vitro testing of bacterostatic and bacteriocidal activity of commercially available desinfectants which are actually used in the field. But also the influence of the host itself is not fully understood so far. The present project shall also contribute to gain more knowledge in regard to infection dynamics, organ affinity and immunology in infections with S. Infantis in broilers. Therefore, animal experiments are planned using different genetics of birds, different dosis of infections, different time points of infections and genetically diverse S. Infantis isolates. Additonally, by using sentinel birds and determination of S. Infantis load of air samples in these experiments the dynamics of infections shall be elucidated in a flock. The aim of the present project is to gain scientific data as basis for possible intervention strategies in regard to S. Infantis infections. |