Woh Pei Yee, Thong Kwai Lin, Behnke Jerzy Marian, Lewis John Watkin, Zain Siti Nursheena Mohd
1 Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
2 School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK.
J Food Prot. 2017 Aug;80(8):1378-1383. doi: 10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-16-342.
Asymptomatic Salmonella carriers who work as food handlers pose food safety and public health risks, particularly during food preparation, and this has serious implications for the disease burden in society. Therefore, we conducted a study to determine the number of Salmonella carriers in a migrant cohort in several food establishments in three major cities in Peninsular Malaysia. Sociodemographic data and stool samples were collected and analyzed using standard methods of detection and isolation. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests of the positive samples were also performed. A total of 317 migrant food handlers, originating from South and Southeast Asian countries, were recruited voluntarily. Nine (2.8%) stool samples were confirmed to be Salmonella positive. PCR serotyping and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis identified four serotypes as Typhimurium (n = 3), Corvallis (n = 2), Hadar (n = 1), Agona (n = 1) and two unknown serovars. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests revealed that all nine isolates were susceptible to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, cefotaxime, ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, and gentamycin. However, seven isolates were found to be multidrug resistant to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, sulfonamides, streptomycin, and tetracycline. This study highlights that carriers of nontyphoidal Salmonella exist among migrant food handlers, which poses a health risk to consumers through food contamination. Our results indicate a need for authorities to enhance food safety awareness in the migrant workers and to reevaluate current health screening methods to include preventive measure such as mandatory stool screening as part of the preemployment and routine health examinations.
作为食品处理人员的无症状沙门氏菌携带者会带来食品安全和公共卫生风险，尤其是在食品制备过程中，这对社会疾病负担有着严重影响。因此，我们开展了一项研究，以确定马来西亚半岛三个主要城市几家食品企业中一个移民群体的沙门氏菌携带者数量。收集了社会人口统计学数据和粪便样本，并使用标准检测和分离方法进行分析。还对阳性样本进行了药敏试验。总共自愿招募了317名来自南亚和东南亚国家的移民食品处理人员。九份（2.8%）粪便样本被确认为沙门氏菌阳性。PCR血清分型和脉冲场凝胶电泳鉴定出四种血清型，分别为鼠伤寒血清型（n = 3）、科瓦利斯血清型（n = 2）、哈达尔血清型（n = 1）、阿哥纳血清型（n = 1）以及两种未知血清型。药敏试验显示，所有九株分离株对阿莫西林-克拉维酸、头孢噻肟、头孢他啶、头孢曲松和庆大霉素敏感。然而，发现七株分离株对氨苄西林、氯霉素、甲氧苄啶-磺胺甲恶唑、磺胺类药物、链霉素和四环素具有多重耐药性。这项研究突出表明，非伤寒沙门氏菌携带者存在于移民食品处理人员中，这通过食品污染对消费者构成健康风险。我们的结果表明，当局需要提高移民工人的食品安全意识，并重新评估当前的健康筛查方法，将诸如强制性粪便筛查作为就业前和常规健康检查一部分的预防措施纳入其中。
