Rapid and sensitive detection of Salmonella from blood, food and feces

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi and S. enterica serovars Paratyphi A and B, the causative agents of typhoid and paratyphoid fever, are important causes of morbidity and mortality in many countries with poor sanitation and water and food contaminated by human fecal waste. Non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) have long been known to be a cause of gastroenteritis and it is becoming increasingly recognized, both in the USA and globally, that multiple antibiotic-resistant strains are also emerging as important causes of invasive bacteremia and focal infections, resulting in hospitalizations and deaths. The current gold standard method for detection and identification of Salmonella spp. is bacterial culture which is time-consuming, laborious and often requires strains to be sent to a reference laboratory for serovar identification. There is a pressing need for a sensitive and specific rapid diagnostic test to detect Salmonella in blood, food and feces. This research proposal tests the hypothesis that the ultra-fast, highly sensitive microwave-accelerated metal-enhanced fluorescence (MAMEF) technology can be used to detect Salmonella spp. in less than 2 minutes. We aim to use this technology to detect any Salmonella and specifically the typhoidal serovars S. Typhi, S. Paratyphi A, and the non-typhoidal serovars S. Typhimurium and S. Enteritidis from blood, food, and feces. We anticipate that this approach will be much faster and more cost-effective than traditional microbiological methods. If successful, a future rapid diagnostic test will be useful in surveillance efforts to identify cases (due to typhoidal or non-typhoidal Salmonella), to refine the burden of invasive Salmonella disease (particularly in patients who previously received antibiotics) and in the food industry to identify food contaminated with Salmonella.