Antimicrobial resistance and genome characteristics of Salmonella enteritidis from Huzhou, China

Salmonella enteritidis is a main pathogen responsible for sporadic outbreaks of gastroenteritis, and therefore is an important public health problem. This study investigated the drug resistance and genomic characteristics of S. enteritidis isolated from clinical and food sources in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, from February 1, 2021, to December 30, 2023. In total, 43 S. enteritidis strains isolated during the study period were subjected to virulence gene, drug resistance gene, genetic correlation, antibiotic resistance, and multilocus sequence typing analyses. All 43 isolates were identified as ST11, and contained 108 virulence-related genes. Drug sensitivity analysis of the 43 isolates showed resistance rates of 100% to nalidixic acid and 90.70% to ampicillin and ampicillin/sulbactam. Multidrug resistance is a serious issue, with 81.40% of strains resistant to three or more antibacterial drugs. Genome sequencing indicated that S. enteritidis possessed 23 drug resistance genes, of which 14 were common to all 43 isolates. Phylogenetic analysis based on core genome single-nucleotide polymorphisms divided the 43 S. enteritidis strains into three clusters, with the 10 samples from an outbreak forming an independent branch located in cluster 3.