Use of AFLP and PFGE to discriminate between Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium DT126 isolates from separate food-related outbreaks in Australia

Abstract

In 2001 Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium definitive phage-type (DT) 126 was isolated at higher frequency in Australia compared to other S. Typhimurium phage types and in comparison to previous years. Associated with this increase was the implication of this phage type in a number of food-related outbreaks. We compared fluorescent amplified fragment length polymorphism (FAFLP) to pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), the current ‘gold standard’ for molecular typing of Salmonella for the discrimination between outbreak-associated isolates and epidemiologically unrelated DT126 strains. FAFLP showed a greater ability to discriminate between isolates than PFGE, with 16 groups of clusters or individual isolates with <90% similarity to each other compared to three groups as determined by PFGE. Both methods were able to discriminate between isolates from two separate outbreaks in South Australia and isolates associated with an outbreak at a restaurant in New South Wales. The resolving power of both methods was not sufficient to separate all epidemiologically unrelated DT126 isolates from the outbreak isolates. We conclude that amplified fragment length polymorphism is a useful tool to assist in the discrimination of S. Typhimurium DT126 isolates.