Characterization of Salmonella spp. serotypes isolated from Colombian pig farms.

Salmonella spp., is a zoonotic pathogen that causes salmonellosis in humans and other animals, associated with foodborne diseases and waterborne diseases. Foods of animal origin, including pork, are associated with food outbreaks caused by this bacterium. Infection of pigs often leads to meat contamination, for this reason it is important to reduce the infection burden from primary production to have a positive impact on human health with fewer cases of salmonellosis and thus reduce hospitalization and medicines costs that affect the public health systems of the countries, in addition to the economic impact that it represents for the pig chain. In pig farms, the entry of Salmonella into farms can occur through contaminated water or by the presence of other natural reservoirs such as rodents, birds, and insects, among others, in addition to contaminated feed and even from humans with contaminated work implements. In animals, infection can occur at any stage of the production cycle, affecting their welfare, health and representing a negative impact on production rates, as they are low weight animals with low feed conversion rates. Pigs has been described as the main reservoir of Salmonella Typhimurium and in recent decades the emergence of the serotype S. Typhimurium monophasic variant, having a high impact on public health due to its resistance to antimicrobials. In addition, serovars such as S. Typhisuis and S. Choleraesuis cause systemic disease in the animal affecting zootechnical parameters such as reduction in growth rate. On the other hand, serovars like S. Infantis, S. Agona, S. Anatum, S. Enteritidis and S. Heidelberg can be found in pigs, for this reason it is important to know the serovars that are circulating in Colombia, since there are no updated epidemiological records in pig farms, therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the circulating serovars in Colombian pig farms and establish their association with the type of sample.