Non-typhoidal Salmonella intestinal carriage in a Schistosoma mansoni endemic community in a rural area of the Democratic Republic of Congo

摘要

Salmonella intestinal carriage may be facilitated by infection with Schistosoma mansoni, which is a flatworm that lives in the small blood vessels of the human intestinal tract. This situation has been described in tropical low and middle income countries, where both pathogens are endemic. The present study aimed to assess the association of Salmonella intestinal carriage with Schistosoma mansoni infection in Kifua II village, located in the Kongo Central province of the Democratic republic of Congo. We collected stool samples from 1,108 inhabitants of the village and analysed them for Salmonella (culture) and Schistosoma mansoni eggs (microscopy). Our findings showed that 3.4% of the participants had Salmonella in their stool and 51.2% were infected with Schistosoma mansoni. There was no association between overall Schistosoma infection and Salmonella carriage but Salmonella carriage was significantly higher among participants with heavy Schistosoma infection compared to those with a light and moderate infection (8.7% versus 3.2%, p = 0.012) and compared to those without Schistosoma mansoni infection (8.7% versus 2.6%, p = 0.002). Further, we showed that some Salmonella isolates recovered from stool were very similar to isolates obtained from invasive infections (blood cultures from patients in a neighbouring hospital).