The major sources of Salmonella enteritidis in Thailand

The data of Salmonella serotypes during 1989-1993 from the World Health Organisation (WHO) National Salmonella and Shigella Center, Division of Clinical Pathology, Department of Medical Science, Ministry of Health, Thailand was analysed and found that the prevalence of Salmonella enteritidis had been dramatically increased since 1990. The average S. enteritidis isolates from human patient samples was 0.70% +/- 0.41% of the total reported Salmonella isolates during 1972-1989 and increased to 1.33%, 2.98%, 9.54%, and 16.98% in 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1993, respectively. The similar trend of S. enteritidis isolates from chicken meat samples were also observed. However, the conclusive epidemiological relationship between human and chicken S. enteritidis isolates needs to be proved by phage typing or other Salmonella typing methods.