Multilocus Sequence Typing of the Clinical Isolates of Salmonella Enterica Serovar Typhimurium in Tehran Hospitals

Background Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is one of the most important serovars of Salmonella enterica and is associated with human salmonellosis worldwide. Many epidemiological studies have focused on the characteristics of Salmonella Typhimurium in many countries as well as in Asia. This study was conducted to investigate the genetic characteristics of Salmonella Typhimurium using multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Methods Clinical samples (urine, blood, and stool) were collected from patients, who were admitted to 2 hospitals in Tehran between April and September, 2015. Salmonella Typhimurium strains were identified by conventional standard biochemical and serological testing. The antibiotic susceptibility patterns of the Salmonella Typhimurium isolates against 16 antibiotics was determined using the disk diffusion assay. The clonal relationship between the strains of Salmonella Typhimurium was analyzed using MLST. Results Among the 68 Salmonella isolates, 31% (n=21) were Salmonella Typhimurium. Of the total 21 Salmonella Typhimurium isolates, 76% (n=16) were multidrug-resistant and showed resistance to 3 or more antibiotic families. The Salmonella Typhimurium isolates were assigned to 2 sequence types: ST19 and ST328. ST19 was more common (86%). Both sequence types were further assigned to 1 eBURST group. Conclusion This is the first study of its kind in Iran to determine the sequence types of the clinical isolates of Salmonella Typhimurium in Tehran hospitals using MLST. ST19 was detected as the major sequence type of Salmonella Typhimurium.