Occurrence of spvA Virulence Gene and Clinical Significance for Multidrug-Resistant Salmonella Strains

Nontyphoidal Salmonella strains are important reservoirs of antimicrobial resistance. An important issue that has not been investigated is whether the multiresistant Salmonella strains are more virulent than their susceptible counterparts. Salmonella isolates collected from clinical human (n = 888) and porcine (n = 2,120) cases at the same time period and geographic location were investigated. Antimicrobial susceptibility, PCR analysis for the spvA virulence gene, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) genotyping were done. Carriage of spvA was associated with multidrug-resistant (MDR) type ACSSuT strains (odds ratio, 7.1; P < 0.05), a type often implicated in bacteremic human cases. PFGE revealed that clinical isolates from pigs were more clonally related to those of human origin than the nonclinical porcine isolates. The findings suggest that MDR strains that also carry specific virulence factors are more likely to be of clinical significance.