Molecular Pathogenesis ofSalmonella entericaSerotype Typhimurium-Induced Diarrhea

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Abstract
Salmonella serotypes are associated with three distinct human disease syndromes, bacteremia, typhoid fever, and enterocolitis. Of these, bacteremia, a syndrome caused by the porcine-adapted S. enterica serotype Choleraesuis and the bovine-adapted S. enterica serotype Dublin, is encountered least frequently in humans (20, 88). Typhoid fever, which is caused by the human-adapted S. enterica serotype Typhi, is essentially eradicated from the United States, although foreign travelers returning from areas of endemicity in Asia, Africa, or South America import approximately 800 cases annually, resulting in an estimated 3 deaths (66). In contrast, enterocolitis is the second most frequent cause of bacterial food-borne disease of known etiology in the United States, with an estimated 1.4 million illnesses per year (66). Furthermore, with approximately 550 annual deaths, Salmonella-induced enterocolitis is the single most common cause of death from food-borne illnesses associated with viruses, parasites, or bacteria in the United States (66). The serotype associated most frequently with this diarrheal disease syndrome in the United States is Salmonella serotype Typhimurium, accounting for 26% of all Salmonella isolates reported to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in 1998 (10).