Pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis for multidrug resistant Salmonella enterica serovar Schwarzengrund isolates collected in six years (2000–2005) from retail chicken meat in Taiwan

Salmonella Schwarzengrund is one of the causative agents of human salmonellosis and animal infections. High prevalence of multidrug resistant strains of S. Schwarzengrund from chicken meat has been recently reported in Taiwan. With an attempt to see if such prevalence in chicken meat was due to the recirculation of S. Schwarzengrund strains in traditional marketplaces, a total of 173 S. Schwarzengrund strains isolated between 2000 and 2005 from 417 retail chicken meat samples purchased from Taipei, Taiwan were analyzed using pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) method. For XbaI and AvrII digested DNA, a total of 23 and 16 PFGE patterns, respectively, were obtained. When these patterns were combined, a total of 47 subtypes were obtained and the major subtypes were X3A2, X1A2 and X2A1. Since it was found that these major subtypes were repeatedly found for multidrug resistant strains collected from 2000 to 2005, we then collected the chicken meat isolates from central and southern Taiwan in 2006. These strains did not show similar major subtypes as those found in Taipei. Such results might also suggest that the repeated appearance of some major subtypes for S. Schwarzengrund strains isolated each year in Taipei was due to the recirculation of these strains in retail marketplace during these years.

Research highlights
► High prevalence of multidrug resistant S. Schwarzengrund from chicken has been reported in Taiwan.
► A total of 173 chicken meat isolates obtained in Taiwan were analyzed with PFGE.
► These isolates may be the recirculated strains in retail marketplaces between 2000 and 2005.