RESEARCH ▶▶▶


Overcoming Salmonella: Do vaccination or probiotics help?


Ideally, Salmonella infections would not normally happen. But the bacteria does occur in pig herds, which might lead to human cases of gastroenteritis (via direct/indirect contact, environmental contamination or foodborne infections). Are there ways to control Salmonella infections in pigs, using vaccination or probiotics? A recent PhD study investigated these options.


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BY DR LINDA PEETERS, GHENT UNIVERSITY, BELGIUM & ROYAL GD, THE NETHERLANDS


nfections with Salmonella Typhimurium in pigs constitute a major risk for human salmonellosis. It is estimated that, worldwide, each year 93.8 million human cases of gastro- enteritis caused by Salmonella species occur. In the EU


and Belgium, in 2017, the number of reported confirmed hu- man salmonellosis cases was 91,662 and 2,344, respectively. Since not every infection is officially reported, these numbers are considered to be an underestimation of the actual num- ber of human salmonellosis cases. It is estimated that 41.5% of the true human salmonellosis cases (i.e. estimated number of cases when accounting for underestimation) in the EU were attributable to pigs. Most Salmonella infections in hu- mans are considered foodborne, emphasising the importance of the food safety of pork products. In Europe, Salmonella is considered a problem, but each country differs in how monitoring is addressed. Table 1 sum- marises how Salmonella in pigs is being tackled in four European countries.


All stages should be targeted According to the “farm-to-fork” or “stable-to-table” approach, all stages in the swine production chain, i.e. pre-harvest,


▶PIG PROGRESS | Volume 36, No. 2, 2020


Sock sampling method – the start of on-farm bacteriology-based Salmonella monitoring.


harvest and post-harvest, should be targeted to reduce the potential risk of Salmonella. The thesis focused on pre-har- vest control measures against Salmonella Typhimurium in- fections in pigs. There are several risk factors for Salmonella infections in swine, but there are also several on-farm control measures that may help to reduce Salmonella prevalence in primary production, as well as further along the swine pro- duction chain. In the research carried out at Ghent University, Belgium, the emphasis was on vaccination with an attenuated vaccine and the application of a probiotic feed additive. The general aim was to provide scientific evidence that could be used to opti- mise the control of Salmonella Typhimurium infections at farm level. Two general research questions were formulated: 1. Can vaccination with an attenuated Salmonella Typhimuri- um vaccine be used to optimise the control of Salmonella Typhimurium infections at farm level?


2. Can the application of Clostridium butyricum as a probiotic feed additive be used to optimise the control of Salmonel- la Typhimurium infections at farm level?


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