Biochemical Phenotypes of Salmonella Livingstone Isolated from Humans, Animals and Feedstuffs in Sweden

Salmonella Livingstone is occasionally isolated from humans, animals and feedstuffs in Sweden. To follow the spread of infection and trace the source of isolates, adequate typing methods are needed. We have developed an automated typing system based on biochemical fingerprinting of bacteria (the PhP system) for typing of different Salmonella serotypes. The system measures the kinetics of various biochemical reactions of bacteria grown in liquid medium in microtiter plates and uses numerical techniques to identify biochemical phenotypes (BPTs) among the tested strains. In the present study we used a set of 16 highly discriminatory tests to differentiate strains of Salmonella of serotype Livingstone and evaluated the system for its discriminatory ability using a collection of 34 unrelated human isolates of S. Livingstone. We also used the system to investigate BPTs of 45 Livingstone strains isolated from animals and feedstuffs in Sweden between 1987 and 1991. Altogether 19 different BPTs were found among human isolate giving a diversity index (Di) of 0.930. In contrast, most strains isolated from animals and feedstuffs in Sweden belonged to 2 dominating BPTs (Di = 0.704). One of these contained 17 strains mainly isolated during 1992 whereas the other contained 18 strains isolated between 1987 and 1991. None of the Swedish human isolates were identical to those of animals and feedstuffs. These findings suggest that 2 different BPTs of Salmonella Livingstone strains are particularly common among animals and feedstuffs in Sweden and that they are not related to human cases of enteritis in this country. We also conclude that biochemical fingerprinting with the PhP system is a reliable and highly discriminatory method for detecting epidemic strains of Salmonella Livingstone.