ISSN 2756-3413
African Journal of Virology Research ISSN 3421-7347 Vol. 1 (2), pp. 041-044, February, 2007. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
A study of the persistence of Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium in soil, barley and rosemary plants
Wolinski Karim1, Chemla Tarak2 and Fouad Salah Tahar3
1Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
2Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia.
3Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Monastir, Monastir, Tunisia.
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
Accepted 03 January, 2007
Abstract
Animal wastes in the form of manure frequently contain enteric pathogenic microorganisms and land spreading can lead to pathogen entry into the food chain. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to determine the persistence of Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium in soil, and on barley and rosemary plants. We observed that Salmonella typhimurium persisted for an extended period of time (203 to 231 days), and could be detected on infected vegetative parts of the rosemary and barley plants even after desiccation. After approximately two months, the colony morphology displayed a mucoid and rugose phenotype. Smooth colony morphology was acquired following incubation in nutrient broth and upon isolation from the digestive tracts of mice that had been challenged orally with stressed S. typhimurium. S. typhimurium was neither isolated from vegetative parts formed after plant contamination, nor from barley seeds and rosemary flowers.
Keywords: Salmonella, soil, rosemary, barley, contamination.