Salmonella Biofilms: From food to human disease
Robert W. Crawford, Geoffrey Gonzalez-Escobedo and John S. Gunn
from: Salmonella: From Genome to Function (Edited by: Steffen Porwollik). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2011)
Abstract
Bacterial biofilms are increasingly implicated as burdens to food and public safety. Over the past few decades, we have learned that this sessile environment provides diverse species of bacteria selective advantages in natural, medical, and industrial ecosystems, as well as resistance to commonly administered antibiotics and protection from host immune responses during chronic infection of humans and animals. Salmonella spp. are food-borne pathogens that remain a critical health concern in impoverished and industrialized nations. In the laboratory, salmonellae have been shown to form biofilms on a variety of surfaces. These Salmonella spp. biofilms have been found to contaminate plant and animal food sources to cause human disease upon consumption, and/or to enhance salmonellae colonization of and persistence at sites of infection read more ...
