EXPERTS, in a study, have said cattle are a likely source of non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica (NTS), a food-borne salmonella germ to humans, and emphasised hand hygiene among abattoir workers.
They stated that this uncommon cause of salmonellosis is prevalent in the abattoir environment where beef cattle are slaughtered for food, acting as a reservoir of resistant bacteria and posing a health risk to these abattoir employees.
Non-typhoidal Salmonella is transmitted to humans mostly by ingesting contaminated raw or undercooked meat or other animal products. It is the leading cause of diarrhoea, infecting millions of people annually. Many of the instances are fatal or life-threatening.
Direct contact with sick animals and contaminated food products, especially those of animal origin, has been linked to human salmonellosis. Salmonella germs spread from an animal’s intestinal tract and contaminate meat while being processed at the abattoir.
In the study, the researchers investigated the prevalence and resistance patterns of Salmonella enterica serovars in abattoir employees, beef cattle, and abattoir environments in Abuja and Lagos, Nigeria, between May and December 2020. It was in the journal, PLOS ONE.
A total of 448 samples were collected from 118 healthy abattoir employees, 272 beef cattle, and 58 abattoir environments, and 27 (6%) NTS isolates were obtained. The prevalence of NTS was highest in abattoir environments (15.5%), followed by cattle (4.8%) and abattoir employees (4.2%).
This study, which also demonstrates the spread of resistance in the abattoir environment, possibly by mobile genetic elements (MGEs), also reported a high prevalence of resistance was observed for gentamicin (85.2%) and tetracycline (77.8%) and therefore emphasises the importance of genomic surveillance.
They declared that the higher NTS prevalence observed may have been due to the poor sanitary conditions of the abattoirs, especially because NTS has been reported to contaminate meat during processing at abattoirs.
Slaughtered beef cattle colonised with NTS could be potential sources of resistance gene transmission along the food chain or to abattoir employees exposed due to their occupation and the abattoir environments.
They concluded,” In this investigation, many rare Salmonella types were isolated from slaughtered cattle, emphasising the importance of genomic surveillance and highlighting the need for multi-sectoral collaboration to stop the transmission of bacterial illnesses from food animal products to humans.
“Beef cattle may be a risk to public health because they spread a variety of Salmonella serovars, many of which are uncommon and may be a source of human salmonellosis in the region. Therefore, encouraging hand hygiene among abattoir employees while processing beef cattle will further reduce NTS colonisation in this population.
“It is also recommended that the responsible government agencies take targeted control actions against newly emerging serovars and continuously monitor and control how antimicrobials are used in food animal production. This requires a One Health collaborative effort among various stakeholders in human health, animal health, environmental health, and policymakers.”
READ ALSO: Germs in borehole water can cause peptic ulcer, stomach cancer — Oke
and then