A Strong Evidence Outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis in Central Italy Linked to the Consumption of Contaminated Raw Sheep Milk Cheese.

Salmonellosis is the second most commonly reported gastrointestinal infection in humans after campylobacteriosis, and an important cause of foodborne outbreaks in the EU/EEA. The vast majority (72.4%) of the salmonellosis foodborne outbreaks reported in EU in 2019 were caused by Salmonella Enteritidis, even if their total number due to this serovar decreased. In spring 2020, a foodborne outbreak of S. Enteritidis occurred in the Marche region (Central Italy), involving 85 people. The common exposure source was a cheese, pecorino "primo sale", produced with raw sheep milk. The cheese batches were produced by two local dairies, with a livestock production facility, also including a sheep farm, being part of one dairy. Bacteriological analysis of samples collected allowed the detection of S. Enteritidis in animal faeces, environmental samples, raw-milk bulk tanks and milk taken from single animals. These data confirm that, despite the scarce scientific evidence, S. Enteritidis can infect sheep and be shed into the animals' milk. Hence, this is a real risk for public health when unpasteurized milk is used in production of such cheese. The present paper describes the results of the investigations conducted to clarify this outbreak.

Antibiotic resistance pattern and virulence genesin avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) from different breeding systems.

Colibacillosis is the most frequent bacterial disease in avian species and antimicrobials are the main weapon to reduce incidence and mortality associated to it. However, indiscriminate use of antibiotics may lead to therapy failure and economic losses for the breeder. The aims of this study were to, determine the antibiotic resistance of Escherichia coli isolates, evaluate the correlation between E. coli isolation and systems of breeding included in this study, and identify the avian pathogenic E.coli (APEC) amongst the E. coli strains isolated. A total of 51 E. coli strains were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility test and they were screened for the presence of virulence genes through PCR. Resistance was most frequently detected against ampicillin and nalidixic acid meanwhile E. coli isolates showed less resistance to the cephalosporins. Overall, 40% of the isolates showed resistance to at least three or more antimicrobials and 16/51 isolates were defined APEC strains. The virulence genes iucD, cvi/cva, irp2 and iss were detected from all 16 APEC strains. The virulence genes tsh, vat, papC, and astA were detected from 11, 7, 5 and 3 APEC strains, respectively. Results demonstrated the importance of studies on APEC and antibiotic resistance genes in Italy, and it was shown that the systems of breeding might influence the antibiotic resistanc.