Emergence and prevalence of non-H₂S-producing Salmonella enterica serovar senftenberg isolates belonging to novel sequence type 1751 in China

Salmonella enterica serovar Senftenberg is a common nontyphoidal Salmonella serotype which causes human Salmonella infections worldwide. In this study, 182 S. Senftenberg isolates, including 17 atypical non-hydrogen sulfide (H ₂S)-producing isolates, were detected in China from 2005 to 2011. The microbiological and genetic characteristics of the non-H₂S-producing and selected H₂S-producing isolates were determined by using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), multilocus sequence typing (MLST), and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) analysis. The phs operons were amplified and sequenced. The 17 non-H₂S-producing and 36 H₂S-producing isolates belonged to 7 sequence types (STs), including 3 new STs, ST1751, ST1757, and ST1758. Fourteen of the 17 non-H ₂S-producing isolates belonged to ST1751 and had very similar PFGE patterns. All 17 non-H₂S-producing isolates had a nonsense mutation at position 1621 of phsA. H₂S-producing and non-H ₂Sproducing S. Senftenberg isolates were isolated from the same stool sample from three patients; isolates from the same patients displayed the same antimicrobial susceptibility, ST, and PFGE pattern but could be discriminated based on CRISPR spacers. Non-H₂S-producing S. Senftenberg isolates belonging to ST1751 have been prevalent in Shanghai, China. It is possible that these emerging organisms will disseminate further, because they are difficult to detect. Thus, we should strengthen the surveillance for the spread of this atypical S. Senftenberg variant.