History

HISTORY
  • Salmonella has long been recognized as important zoonotic pathogen of worldwide economic significance in humans and animals.
  • Infections of animals with various species of Salmonella sometimes result in serious disease.
  • The interplay of Salmonella with its host takes a variety of forms, including remarkable host specificity, inapparent infection, recovered carriers, enteritis, septicaemia, abortion and combination of disease syndromes.
  • The typhoid bacillus Salmonella typhi was first observed by Eberth (1880) in the mesenteric nodes and spleen of fatal cases of typhoid fever and was isolated by Gaffky (1884).
  • It came to be known as Eberth – Gaffky bacillus or Eberthella typhi.
  • Salmon and Smith (1885) described a bacillus, which was believed to cause hog cholera in swine.
  • This bacillus, now called Salmonella cholera suis was the first of a series of similar organisms to be isolated from animal and man- the genus Salmonella
  • Salmonellae currently comprise about 2400 serotypes, of which 50 of them are potentially pathogenic.
Last modified: Monday, 4 June 2012, 5:16 AM