National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Tracking and Forecasting for Infectious Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 102206, Beijing, China.
Yulin Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 537000, Guangxi, China.
Nat Commun. 2024 Nov 26;15(1):10238. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-54405-9.
Food workers have frequent contact with unprocessed foods, but their carriage of Salmonella and potential influence on public health have not been comprehensively assessed. We investigated Salmonella carriage among food workers compared with non-food workers based on occupational health screening of 260,315 asymptomatic workers over an 8-year surveillance period in Yulin, China. We confirmed that healthy carriers serve as natural reservoirs for Salmonella, with higher carriage rates in food workers than non-food workers. The isolates from food workers also exhibited greater serovar diversity and likely higher levels of antimicrobial resistance than those from non-food workers. Factors such as meteorological, social, and hygiene factors potentially influenced the carriage rate. Genomic analysis revealed a consistent increase in antimicrobial resistance genes among Salmonella isolates over the study period, with the majority of these antimicrobial resistance genes located on plasmids. Additionally, we identified numerous closely related bacterial clusters, which might reflect clusters of hidden local foodborne infections. This study underscores the elevated risk posed by food workers in the persistence and dissemination of Salmonella as vectors/fomites. Enhanced monitoring and targeted interventions in this group may reduce the dissemination of pathogens and antimicrobial resistance genes.
食品从业人员频繁接触未经加工的食品，但他们携带沙门氏菌的情况及其对公众健康的潜在影响尚未得到全面评估。我们基于中国玉林市 8 年监测期间对 260315 名无症状工人的职业健康筛查，调查了食品从业人员与非食品从业人员之间沙门氏菌的携带情况。我们证实健康携带者是沙门氏菌的天然储主，食品从业人员的携带率高于非食品从业人员。与非食品从业人员相比，食品从业人员分离株的血清型多样性更大，可能具有更高水平的抗生素耐药性。气象、社会和卫生等因素可能影响携带率。基因组分析显示，研究期间沙门氏菌分离株中的抗生素耐药基因持续增加，这些抗生素耐药基因主要位于质粒上。此外，我们还发现了许多密切相关的细菌群，这可能反映了隐藏的本地食源性感染群。本研究强调了食品从业人员作为载体/媒介物在沙门氏菌持续存在和传播方面所带来的高风险。加强对这一人群的监测和有针对性的干预措施可能会减少病原体和抗生素耐药基因的传播。
