Around the World in 1,475 Salmonella Geo-serotypes

Salmonella serotypes names, isn't it? Surely, this is because the naming system of Salmonella serotypes is by far the most scientist friendly. Traditionally , most Salmonella serotypes have been named after geographic locations. We decided to explore the geographic locations to which Salmonella serotypes refer and describe some unexpected twists in the naming scheme. We found that 93% (n = 1,475) of the 1,585 se-rotypes could be categorized as geo-serotypes; that is, the name refers to a geographic location. The 3 countries with the most geo-serotypes are Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Other serotype names refer to the name of a person, animal, tribe, or food item or are a composite of symptoms and host. The Salmonella serotypes naming scheme has had a valuable effect on public health microbiology, and in the current era of fast development of whole-genome sequencing, it should remain a reference. W hat do the cities of Paris, Pisa, and Toronto have in common? Yes, all 3 are famous for their towers but what else? You don't know? Let's see if this will help you: what do the states of Colorado, Florida, and Ohio in the United States have in common with the 3 cities above? No idea? If we tell you Salmonella serotypes…. If you still don't know, by the end of this essay you will, without a doubt, be able to answer these questions. Salmonella was first isolated from a human sample in 1884 by bacteriologist Georg Gaffky and later identified as Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serotype Typhi. The following year, the veterinary surgeon Daniel Elmer Salmon (whose name was later given to the Salmonella genus) and microbiologist Theobald Smith isolated S. en-terica ser. Choleraesuis from a swine sample, while searching for the agent causing cholera in hogs (1). Since then, a plethora of Salmonella names was given to strains with new serotypes; that is, new combinations of flagellar (H) and/or somatic (O) antigens. In 1934, a first list of 44 validated Salmonella serotypes, called the Kauffmann-White scheme, was published (2). The naming scheme of serotypes (also called serovars) evolved over time. At the beginning of the 20th century, serotype names referred to clinical syndromes either in humans The host specificity was correct for some serotypes (e.g., abortus-ovis, abortus-equi) but proved to be wrong for many others (e.g., typhi-murium, cholerae-suis) (2). By the mid-1930s, Fritz Kauffmann was heading the World Health …