A recent study has found that most cases of salmonella infections from poultry are caused by only a few types of bacteria, even though there are thousands of different kinds of strains that are known.
Three strains of salmonella such as Infantis, Enteritidis, and Typhimurium, are responsible for most human illnesses. On the other hand, Salmonella Kentucky causes less than 1% of human cases. It is a common strain in U.S. chicken. These findings support the USDA’s new strategy to focus on the most dangerous salmonella strains.
The poultry industry has now reduced salmonella in chicken in the last two decades. But the number of people getting infected is still the same and has not decreased. Salmonella is increasing number of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths each year in the U.S. The USDA is now planning to reduce these infections by 25% by 2030.
The study has also revealed that the risk of salmonella infection from chicken is very low for humans. It infects 2 people for every 1 million people who eat chicken every year in the U.S. But this risk is higher in some chicken products that have high levels of infectious bacteria.
Researchers are now trying to find new strategies that target these harmful strains such as using statistics to keep accurate counts of salmonella cases, testing poultry products thoroughly before selling and vaccinating chickens against strains that can increase the risk.
Researchers of this study think that these findings will help people understand the USDA’s new regulations. Their regulations prioritize the most harmful strains of salmonella rather than simply counting the number of cases. They want to protect public health by targeting the strains that actually make people sick.
