Authors
Benedikt Ley, Simon Le Hello, Octavie Lunguya, Veerle Lejon, Jean-Jacques Muyembe, François-Xavier Weill, and Jan Jacobs
Abstract
Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium multilocus sequence type (ST) 313 has been reported as an emerging cause of invasive salmonellosis in sub-Saharan Africa (1). ST313 is almost exclusively from sub-Saharan Africa, is characterized by a degraded genome capacity similar to that of S. enterica Typhi, has high rates of antimicrobial drug resistance, and is associated with bloodstream infections and mortality rates >25% (2). Whole-genome sequence analysis of 129 ST313 strains, isolated during 1988–2010 from 7 countries of sub-Saharan Africa, identified 2 dominant genetic lineages, I and II. These lineages emerged ≈52 and ≈32 years ago, respectively, possibly coevolving with the spread of HIV (3). Although lineage I has not been observed since the mid-2000s, lineage II has been observed with increasing frequency. However, data from Central Africa, particularly the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are scarce, and information is limited to 10 genomes from strains isolated >20 years ago (3). To determine whether ST313 is the dominant ST among invasive S. enterica Typhimurium in the DRC, we studied 180 isolates collected during 2007–2011.
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