Int. J. One Health Vol.9 Article-1
Review Article
International Journal of One Health, 9(1): 1-9
https://doi.org/10.14202/IJOH.2023.1-9
Ecology and epidemiology of Salmonella spp. isolated from the environment and the roles played by wild animals in their maintenance
2. Department of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.
3. Department of Veterinary Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.
4. OIE Salmonella Reference Laboratory, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
5. Salmonella Reference Laboratory, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie Viale dell'Università, Legnaro (PD), Italy.
Background and Aim: Salmonella is a ubiquitous organism of public health importance that causes diarrhea and other systemic disease syndromes. The ecology and epidemiology of the organism in addition to the roles played by wild animals are important in understanding its disease. Relevant published peer-reviewed literature was obtained after imputing the study's keywords into the Google search engine. The publications were thereafter saved for the study. The study revealed the ecology of Salmonella is directly related to its epidemiology. These were found to be either positively or negatively influenced by the living and non-living parts of the environment. Free-ranging and captive wild animals can serve as asymptomatic carriers of Salmonella, therefore, help to maintain the cycle of the disease since wildlife serves as reservoir hosts to over 70% of emerging zoonotic diseases. Cockroaches transmit Salmonella through their feces, and body parts and when ingested by birds and animals. The statistically significant over 83% of Salmonella isolation in lizards suggests the reptile could be a source of Salmonella distribution. Snakes, foxes, badgers, rodents, and raccoons have been reported to have Salmonella as a natural component of their gut with the ability to shed the organism often. The high occurrence (>45%) of diverse Salmonella serovars coupled with the fact that some of these animals were handled, kept as pets and consumed by man portends these animals as potential sources of transmission of the organism and the disease. The etiology and epidemiology of Salmonella are overtly affected by several environmental factors which also determine their survival and maintenance. The roles played by wild animals in the relationship, transmission, growth or interaction within and between Salmonella spp., the occurrence, prevalence, and distribution of the organism help maintain the organism in the environment. An understanding of the roles played by the different parts of the environment and wild animals in the ecology and epidemiology of Salmonella can help make informed decisions on the prevention and control of the diseases it causes. This review aimed to investigate the relationship between ecology, epidemiology, and environment, including the roles played by wild animals in the maintenance of the organism and its disease.
Keywords: ecology, environment, epidemiology, reservoir-hosts, Salmonella, transmission.
Received: 02-07-2022 Accepted: 03-01-2023 Published online: 22-02-2023
Corresponding author: Oladapo Oyedeji Oludairo E-mail: oludairo@hotmail.com
DOI: 10.14202/IJOH.2023.1-9
Copyright: Oludairo, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.