Multi-laboratory evaluation of the rapid genoserotyping array (SGSA) for the identification of Salmonella serovars

•The SGSA Salmonella serotyping assay targets 57 clinically important serovars.•The performance of the SGSA was evaluated with 1874 Salmonella isolates.•96.7% of the isolates of target serovars were correctly identified.•Specificity and sensitivity of the assay were high (>98 and 99%, respectively).•The SGSA is an efficient, high-throughput alternative to standard serotyping.

Salmonella serotyping is an essential first step for identification of isolates associated with disease outbreaks. The Salmonella genoserotyping array (SGSA) is a microarray-based alternative to standard serotyping designed to rapidly identify 57 of the most commonly reported serovars through detection of the genes encoding surface O and H antigens and reporting the corresponding serovar in accordance with the existing White–Kaufmann–Le Minor serotyping scheme. In this study, we evaluated the SGSA at 4 laboratories in 3 countries by testing 1874 isolates from human and non-human sources. The SGSA correctly identified 96.7% of isolates from the target 57 serovars. For the prevalent and clinically important Salmonella serovars Enteritidis and Typhimurium, test specificity and sensitivity were greater than 98% and 99%, respectively. Due to its high-throughput nature, the SGSA is a rapid and cost-effective alternative to standard serotyping for identifying the most prevalent serovars of Salmonella.