Unusual Enterobacteriaceae: lactose-positive Salmonella typhimurium which is endemic in São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

Since 1971 a lactose-positive (lac+) Salmonella typhimurium variety Copenhagen has been endemic in the city of Sao Paulo. The strain is a strong lactose fermenter and resembles Escherichia coli on primary plating media and in triple sugar iron agar. Although most isolates of the strain have uniform properties, some have slightly different antigens, antibiograms, phage types, or fermentation patterns. Most isolates have come from stools of infants under 1 year of age and are probably hospital acquired; however, other isolates are probably community acquired. Eighteen other lac+ Salmonella isolated in the United States were also studied. Most of these strains resembled E. coli on primary plates and triple sugar iron agar; thus their identification would pose a problem for most clinical laboratories. A simple procedure for detecting lac+ Salmonella mixed with lac+ E. coli consists of touching 12 colonies in succession with a straight wire and then inoculating a peptone iron agar tube. H2S production is apparent from lac+ Salmonella even if 11 E. coli and one Salmonella colony are picked. If a positive peptone iron agar tube is observed, then individual colonies are tested to rule out other strong H2S producers. The true incidence of lac+ Salmonella is unknown because they are not isolated and identified in most laboratories.