USA: Persistent Salmonella Infantis strain associated with chicken
REPJFX01 is a persistent strain of Salmonella Infantis bacteria, exhibiting resistance to multiple drugs, and it has been responsible for causing widespread illnesses and outbreaks both within the United States and worldwide.
The first report of illnesses caused by this strain came to light in 2012 when it was strain was first reported to PulseNet. As of December 31, 2022, PulseNet had received information on 2,900 patients afflicted with REPJFX01 infection. Among these patients, the median age was 54 years, with a range from 27 to 70 years, and 62% of them were female. Stool samples accounted for 65% of the isolate sources, while urine samples comprised 27% of the cases. Although this strain can cause illnesses throughout the year, its prevalence is highest during the months of July and August. It has been observed that REPJFX01 primarily spreads through contaminated chicken in the United States, but cases have also been linked to international travel.
PulseNet received data on more than 6,000 REPJFX01 isolates from non-human sources, starting from as early as 2014. The majority of these isolates were derived from chicken samples collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), including 4,176 from FSIS food and food product sampling and 345 from FSIS intestinal (cecal) content sampling. Other non-human sources of bacteria sequences reported to PulseNet included turkey (222 isolates), pork (56), beef (35), water (20), and various other sources from food, animals, and the environment (33).
