Scientists at Antwerp University have discovered some deadly variants of salmonella virus are all but untreatable using antibiotics. Researchers at the university made their discovery while, as part of an international team of scientists, they were examining the genetic structure of new and dangerous forms variants of salmonella.
Antwerp University scientists find that some deadly salmonella variants are hardly treatable with antibiotics
Published:
"Little is known about some variants of salmonella, but these can result in very serious infections”, Antwerp University’s Professor Sandra Van Puyvelde told journalists. "Moreover, sometimes very high levels of resistance to anti-biotics are recorded, making these kinds of infections almost untreatable in Sub-Saharan Africa”.
Together with an international network of scientists Professor Van Puyvelde compiled a global genetic inventory of the spread of salmonella bacteria. In order to do this the scientists used more than a thousand bacteria samples from all over the world.
Samples from the Democratic Republic of Congo“This was really a feat. We delved into so-called biobanks, which allowed us to examine, among others, samples from the 1940s”.
Some of the samples came from what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo and have been kept for decades in the cellars of the Pasteur Institute in Paris. The samples provided a wealth of genetic information that allowed the scientists to unravel their genetic family trees.
Worrying is the very high level of antibiotic resistance that was found in salmonella samples from Ethiopia. Wim Cuypers of the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp says that this means that we should also remain vigilant here too.
"The resistance is contained in so-called ‘mobile DNA’ and can be passed on by another related bacteria. We are increasingly seeing such extreme forms of resistance to antibiotics worldwide. As the resistance is mobile there is a big threat of more untreatable bacterial infections”.
Infections with invasive "non-typhoidal" salmonella are mainly seen in children under the age of five who live in poor hygienic conditions. These salmonella infections are associated with a staggering mortality rate of sometimes as high as 20%.
The recent studies by the international researchers "provides a breakthrough in the study of the genetics of these infections and give us a bird’s eye view of their spread”, Wim Cuypers told journalists.
According to the University of Antwerp, the information will therefore be crucial for monitoring salmonella variants and as a result can be used in the development of new vaccines.