Muslin Claire, Salas-Brito Paula, Coello Dayana, Morales-Jadán Diana, Viteri-Dávila Carolina, Coral-Almeida Marco
One Health Research Group, Universidad de Las Américas, Quito, Ecuador.
Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Carrera de Medicina Veterinaria, Universidad de Las Américas, Quito, Ecuador.
Gut Pathog. 2025 Jul 9;17(1):52. doi: 10.1186/s13099-025-00699-z.
Reptiles are recognized as reservoirs of Salmonella bacteria, and the expansion of the global pet reptile trade has led to reptile-associated salmonellosis emerging as a significant public health concern. To characterize the risk posed by reptiles as a source of Salmonella transmission to humans, we conducted the first comprehensive meta-analysis to estimate the worldwide prevalence of Salmonella in both wild and captive reptiles and identify the primary factors influencing this prevalence.
We systematically reviewed publications reporting the prevalence of Salmonella spp. intestinal isolation in reptiles, published between 1986 and 2023, across the PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases. The 179 studies included examined a total of 23,411 reptiles from 56 countries across all continents, with 49.9% being free-ranging animals and 48.4% living in captivity, mainly from zoos, pet shops, or households. The overall pooled prevalence of Salmonella spp. in reptiles was estimated at 30.4% (95% confidence interval, CI: 27.4-33.6%). Notably, significant variations in Salmonella spp. colonization rates were observed across different reptile taxa, with snakes exhibiting the highest prevalence at 63.1% (95%CI: 57.4-68.4%), followed by lizards at 33.6% (95%CI: 28.6-39.0%), and turtles and crocodiles with similar rates of 11.2% (95%CI: 8.8-14.2%) and 10.5% (95%CI: 5.7-18.6%), respectively. Furthermore, significant differences in Salmonella spp. prevalence were observed across different reptile families within each taxon. The data suggest that captivity is a contributing factor to Salmonella spp. colonization, as captive reptiles showed significantly higher prevalence rates (37.8%, 95%CI: 34.3-41.4%) compared to their wild counterparts (14.8%, 95%CI: 11.0-19.6%). Additionally, we found that the inclusion of pre-enrichment and selective enrichment steps in culture broths significantly improved the sensitivity of both culture-based and PCR-based Salmonella detection methods. Importantly, the study revealed that reptiles primarily carried Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica, responsible for most human salmonellosis cases. Of particular concern, several human-pathogenic Salmonella serovars of public health relevance, such as Enteritidis, Typhimurium and Newport, were identified among the 10 most common serovars colonizing reptiles.
Collectively, these findings highlight the substantial health threat posed by reptiles as a source of human Salmonella infection and may inform the development of policies and strategies for prevention and public education to mitigate the risk of reptile-associated salmonellosis.
爬行动物被认为是沙门氏菌的宿主，全球宠物爬行动物贸易的扩张导致与爬行动物相关的沙门氏菌病成为一个重大的公共卫生问题。为了描述爬行动物作为沙门氏菌传播给人类的来源所带来的风险，我们进行了首次全面的荟萃分析，以估计全球野生和圈养爬行动物中沙门氏菌的流行率，并确定影响这一流行率的主要因素。
我们系统地回顾了1986年至2023年期间发表在PubMed、Scopus和Web of Science数据库中关于爬行动物沙门氏菌肠道分离率的出版物。纳入的179项研究共检查了来自各大洲56个国家的23411只爬行动物，其中49.9%为自由放养动物，48.4%为圈养动物，主要来自动物园、宠物店或家庭。爬行动物中沙门氏菌的总体合并流行率估计为30.4%（95%置信区间，CI：27.4 - 33.6%）。值得注意的是，不同爬行动物种群的沙门氏菌定植率存在显著差异，蛇的流行率最高，为63.1%（95%CI：57.4 - 68.4%），其次是蜥蜴，为33.6%（95%CI：28.6 - 39.0%），乌龟和鳄鱼的流行率相似，分别为11.2%（95%CI：8.8 - 14.2%）和10.5%（95%CI：5.7 - 18.6%）。此外，在每个分类群的不同爬行动物科中，沙门氏菌的流行率也存在显著差异。数据表明，圈养是沙门氏菌定植的一个促成因素，因为圈养爬行动物的流行率（37.8%，95%CI：34.3 - 41.4%）显著高于野生爬行动物（14.8%，95%CI：11.0 - 19.6%）。此外，我们发现，在培养基中加入预富集和选择性富集步骤可显著提高基于培养和基于PCR的沙门氏菌检测方法的灵敏度。重要的是，该研究表明，爬行动物主要携带肠炎沙门氏菌肠炎亚种，这是导致大多数人类沙门氏菌病病例的原因。特别值得关注的是，在定植于爬行动物的10种最常见血清型中，发现了几种具有公共卫生相关性的人类致病性沙门氏菌血清型，如肠炎血清型、鼠伤寒血清型和纽波特血清型。
总体而言，这些发现突出了爬行动物作为人类沙门氏菌感染源所带来的重大健康威胁，并可能为制定预防政策和战略以及开展公众教育以降低与爬行动物相关的沙门氏菌病风险提供参考。
