It can cause a variety of clinical manifestations from mild gastroenteritis to bacteremia and typhoid fever. The global burden of nontyphoidal Salmonella gastroenteritis has been estimated

selleck chemicals llc to be 93.8 million cases of gastroenteritis each year, with 155 000 deaths [1]. In Africa, non-typhoidal Salmonella has consistently been reported as a leading cause of bacteremia among immuno-compromised people, infants and newborns [2, 3]. However, the sources and transmission routes of Salmonella in developing countries are poorly understood due to the lack of coordinated national epidemiological surveillance systems [4, 5]. In general, the primary sources of salmonellosis are considered to be food-producing animals such as cattle, poultry and swine [6]. The pathogens are mainly disseminated by trade in animals and uncooked animal food products [7]. The process of removing the gastrointestinal tract during slaughtering of food animals is regarded as one of the most important sources of carcass and organ contamination with Salmonella at abattoirs [8]. Also asymptomatic pet animals are a potential source of infection, especially species with high fecal carriage rates of Salmonella[9]. African pygmy hedgehogs kept as pets have Palbociclib order previously been associated with cases of human salmonellosis

[10]. The development and the accumulation of resistance to antimicrobials in foodborne pathogens are a major problem for public health. Multi-resistant Salmonella may acquire their resistance genes from microbiota of production selleck compound animals before being transmitted to humans through

food chain [11, 12]. Due to the lacking surveillance programs in Burkina Faso, as in the most of Africa, information on the prevalence of Salmonella and other enteropathogens in food stuffs is limited. However, our previous study on the prevalence of enteric bacteria on retail meats sold at the markets in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, revealed that 37% of the chicken, 13% of the beef intestines, Baricitinib and 7% of the mutton samples were contaminated by Salmonella[13]. The most common serotypes detected were S. Derby and S. Tilene. In a following broader study on chicken carcasses in Burkina Faso, up to 57% of the carcasses were found to be contaminated by Salmonella, S. Derby again being the most common serotype [14]. In order to better understand the origin of the pathogens, in the current study, we sampled the feces of the common food animals during slaughter. Since previously S. Tilene has mainly been recovered from African pigmy hedgehogs kept as pets in North America or Europe [15, 16], we included hedgehogs, which are common on the grassy pastures in Burkina Faso and also consumed as food, in our study.