Non-Typhoidal Salmonellosis

Abstract

Salmonella is a ubiquitous Gram-negative bacterium belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae family that can infect animals and humans, with gastroenteric and systemic symptomatology from moderate to severe. Animals can act as asymptomatic carriers that excrete Salmonella spp. intermittently in faeces and contaminate carcasses. At present, poultry and swine are recognised as the main sources of infection for humans. Control of human salmonellosis is based on sustainable biosafety and hygienic measures “from farm to folk” but efficient vaccines would contribute to avoid animal infections. Since no commercial vaccines are available, a wide variety of experimental work is carried out to test both non-living and live attenuated vaccines in animal models, using either subcellular components of Salmonella administered with adjuvants or live genetically modified bacteria lacking structural elements, essential metabolites or virulence genes. A special effort should be conducted to design effective vaccines antigenically tagged to allow distinguishing between infected and vaccinated animals.