Salmonella Infection in Mesenteric Lymph Nodes of Breeding Sows

Salmonellosis is one of the main foodborne diseases worldwide. Breeding sows asymptomatically infected with Salmonella can transmit the pathogen to piglets and humans. The isolation of Salmonella from mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs) is considered a demonstration of asymptomatic infection in swine. As previous breeding sow studies have been performed using feces, the aim of this work was to study the occurrence of Salmonella infections by sampling MLNs, in comparison to their serological status. First, Salmonella fecal shedding was studied in 12/16 large breeding farms to establish the framework of study. Then, MLN (n = 264) and blood (n = 237) samples were obtained at an abattoir from sows of 15 of these 16 breeding farms. Additionally, risk factors associated with Salmonella MLN infection were analyzed. A total of 6.1% (16/264) sows, distributed in 40% (6/15) of the farms, had the pathogen in MLN. Salmonella Typhimurium was the most frequent serovar isolated. Interestingly, 43.8% (7/16) of MLN isolates were susceptible to all the antimicrobials tested and were found distributed throughout all farms with at least one sow positive. As well, one isolate of the emerging DT195 clone was detected and found to be resistant to six antibiotic families (ASSuTNx-Cfx). The serovars and the resistance profiles of the Salmonella isolates from feces were completely different to those obtained from MLNs. The seroprevalence (41.8% of sows and 100% of farms) was higher than that of MLN infections, showing no concordance (k = 0.15) between these two diagnostic tests in sows. Strategies directed to correct two risk factors (i.e., administration of dry food and old premises) would most likely help to reduce Salmonella infections in breeding sows.