Salmonella Saintpaul

Background: Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Saintpaul (antigenic formula 1,4,[5],12:e,h:1,2) is a serovar of the O:4 (B) serogroup. In 1940, serovar Saintpaul was first isolated from turkey in US.

In the U.S. it ranks among the top 15 serovars causing human salmonellosis. In Oceania, this serovar is the fourth most common serovar in humans. In addition, S. Saintpaul is commonly reported in Europe and outbreaks have been linked to internationally imported food (e.g., from Mexico).

In Germany, a clonal line with a multidrug resistant phenotype was found in turkeys and human feces. This strain showed resistance to β-lactam antibiotics, aminoglycosides, nalidixic acid, and sulfamethoxazole, along with intermediate resistance to ciprofloxacin and third-generation cephalosporins.

NCBI PD link for serovar Saintpaul: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pathogens/isolates/#(taxgroup_name:%22Salmonella%20enterica%22)%20AND%20computed_types:(%22serotype=Saintpaul%22)

Genetic characteristics: Chen et al.

Animal reservoir: Unknown, but turkey and swine are likely to be reservoirs for serovar Saintpaul.

Geographical distribution: This serovar is globally distributed. Serovar Saintpaul ranks among the top ten most prevalent non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) serovars globally, causing approximately 1.6% of severe human infections despite over 1,400 known NTS serovars. Between 2011 and 2020, serovar Saintpaul was one of the 10 most frequently isolated Salmonella serovars in Brazil, accounting for 1,222 cases (0.16% of 62,030 isolates). In the Northern territory of Australia, it was the third most frequently reported serovar in 2014, representing 11% of all reported salmonellosis cases.

Human outbreaks: Multiple human outbreaks associated with serovar Saintpaul have been reported, linked to a variety of commodities. Below are some examples.

Year	Location	Associated source	Number of cases
2005	UK	Unknown	25
2023	UK and Portugal	Cantaloupe melon	98 (93 in the UK and 5 in Portugal)
2016	US: Utah	Raw milk	9
2016	Australia	Mung bean sprouts	419
2013	US: multistate	Imported cucumber	84
2009	US: multistate	Raw alfalfa sprouts	235
2008	US: multistate & Canada	Jalapeño and serrano peppers from Mexico	1442
2006	Australia	Cantaloupe	115
1999	Australia	Drinking water	28
1993	Germany	Paprika & paprika-powdered potato chips¹	Estimated 1000

¹ Serovar Javiana and Rubislaw were also involved. The case number here does not reflect the total number of people only infected by Salmonella Saintpaul.

Border rejections: Multiple border rejections linked to serovar Saintpaul have been reported. A majority of these border rejections were associated with black pepper imported from Brazil to Germany and identified multiple Salmonella serovars including serovar Sainpaul. Below are some examples.

Year	Exporting country	Importing country	Associated source	Product category
2023	Vietnam	Italy	Frozen raw frog legs	Meat and meat products (other than poultry)
2021	Brazil	Germany	Black pepper¹	Herbs and spices
2020	Brazil	Germany	Black pepper²	Herbs and spices
2020	Brazil	Germany	Black pepper³	Herbs and spices
2020	Germany, Netherlands	Italy	Poultry and veal kebab⁴	Meat and meat products (other than poultry)

¹ Salmonella Poona, Javiana and Saintpaul were found.

² Salmonella Infantis, Freetown, Javiana, and Saintpaul were found.

³ Salmonella Saintpaul and Javiana were found.

⁴ Salmonella Derby and Saintpaul were found.

Recalls:

Year	Location	Recalled food	Type
2023	Spain	Fresh turkey meat	Poultry meat and poultry meat products
2008	US: multistate	Jalapeno peppers¹	Fruits and vegetables

¹ This recall was caused by a multistate outbreak described above. Agricola Zaragoza, Inc. of McAllen, TX issued a recall of their Jalapeno peppers.

Relevant links:

Page tree

Salmonella Saintpaul