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Background: Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Cerro (antigenic formula 6,14,18:z4,z23:1,5) is a serovar of the O:18 (K) serogroup. This serovar emerged in cattle in the United States. According to the CDC report of 2011, this serovar ranked third among clinical-nonhuman sources. Hardly reported in human salmonellosis cases, but highly reported among dairy cattle; S. Cerro appears to be adapted to cattle. .
NCBI PD link for serovar Cerro: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pathogens/isolates/#(taxgroup_name:%22Salmonella%20enterica%22)%20AND%20computed_types:(%22serotype=Cerro%22)
Genetic characteristics: Subtyping by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) had identified a single predominant PFGE type on dairy farms in New in New York and Pennsylvania. Genomic characteristics associated with the adaptation of S. Cerro to cattle are currently under study at the Cornell Food Safety Laboratory.
Animal reservoir: Salmonella Cerro has as reservoir dairy cattle. Some endemic regions include New York and Pennsylvania.
. Cohn et al. identified a large clonal clade comprised of predominantly sequence type 367 cattle and environmental isolates. Hypothetically disrupted coding sequences showed clade-specific losses of intact speC and sopA virulence genes in the large clonal S. Cerro clade, whereas the loss of intact vgrG, araH, and vapC was observed in all section Typhi S. Cerro isolates. Cummings et al. studied Cerro isolates collected in New York dairy herds and revealed that resistance patterns varied from zero to nine drugs, and drug-resistant isolates were found on eight (40%) of the farms that tested positive for serovar Cerro. Serovar Cerro was found to be polyphyletic with five phylogenetic groups and one stand-alone singleton that does not cluster with any other Salmonella Cerro isolates.
Animal reservoir: Serovar Cerro is known as one of the cattle-adapted serotypes; however, at least one of its clades has been shown to be swine-associated.
Geographical distribution: Serovar Cerro has been reported worldwide butGeographical distribution: S. Cerro has been reported mainly in the U.S. (from bovine samples). In addition, in southern Southern Italy, this serovar was described as endemic in the year 2000.
Outbreaks: Only one outbreak Human outbreaks: Multiple outbreaks of human salmonellosis due to serovar Cerro has have been reported. In addition, one outbreak in dairy cattle was reported, in this outbreak contamination at the farm persisted for almost 2 years.Below are a few examples.
Year | Location | Associated source | Number of cases |
2024 | US: Multi-state | 4701 | |
2012 | US: Arkansas | 62 | |
1985 | US: New Mexico | 29 |
Relevant links and references:
1 Multiple serovars, including Salmonella Altona, Cerro, Enteritidis, Indiana, Infantis, Johannesburg, Mbandaka, and Typhimurium, were linked to this outbreak. The case number represents the total number of cases associated with the outbreak and does not specifically indicate the number of people infected by Salmonella Cerro.
2 The total case count was n=597, and a total of 60 and 106 Salmonella isolates were cultured from 56 (Prison A) and 99 patients (Prison B), respectively. Salmonella Cerro was isolated from 6 patients that were co-infected with other serovars, and 8 isolates were obtained from the egg samples.
Border rejections:
Year | Exporting country | Importing country | Associated source | Product category |
| 2021 | Ethiopia | Germany | Organic sesame seeds | Nuts, nut products and seeds |
| 2020 | Brazil | Germany | Black pepper1 | Herbs and spices |
| 2020 | Brazil | Germany | Black pepper2 | Herbs and spices |
1 Salmonella Abaetetuba and Salmonella Cerro were both found.
2 Salmonella Oranienburg and Salmonella Cerro were both found.
Recalls:
| Year | Location | Recalled food | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | US: multistate | Pig ear pet treats1 | Pet food |
| 1985 | US: New Mexico | Carne Seca2 | Dried food |
1 Salmonella I 4,[5],12:i:-, Cerro, Derby, Infantis, London, Newport, and Rissen were found.
2 This recall was caused by an outbreak described above.
Relevant links:
- https://pmchttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3095722/
- https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/reportspubs/salmonella-atlas/serotype-reports.html
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20187753/
- https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mbio.01913-24?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed
- httpshttp://wwwpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3095722/http/articles/PMC9748477/
- https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2019.00102/full
- https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/esm.05.07.00028-en
- https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/outbreaks/backyardpoultry-05-24/?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/backyardpoultry-05-24/index.html
- https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6308a2.htm
- https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/screen/notification/507191
- https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/screen/notification/443222
- https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/screen/notification/428088
- https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/outbreaks-and-advisories/fda-investigates-contaminated-pig-ear-pet-treats-connected-human-salmonella-infections
- https://www.cdc.gov/Mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00000628.htmncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18041954