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Abstract: Nontyphoidal Salmonella are a major and emerging cause of fatal invasive disease in Africa, and are genetically distinct from those found elsewhere in the world. Understanding the targets of protective immunity to these African Salmonellae is key to vaccine development. We immunized mice and rabbits with heat-inactivated wild-type African invasive Salmonella Typhimurium D23580 and rough mutants lacking O-antigen. Wild-type Salmonella, unlike rough bacteria, induced a large bactericidal antibody response mainly against O-antigen. Bactericidal ability of anti-O-antigen antibodies was confirmed following purification by affinity chromatography. The current findings support the development of an O-antigen conjugate vaccine against invasive nontyphoidal Salmonellae for Africa. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Nontyphoidal Salmonella (NTS) is a frequent cause of diarrhea around the world, yet in many African countries it is more commonly associated with invasive bacterial disease. Various source attribution models have been developed that utilize microbial subtyping data to assign cases of human NTS infection to different animal populations and foods of animal origin. Advances in molecular microbial subtyping approaches, in particular whole-genome sequencing, provide higher resolution data with which to investigate these sources. In this review, we provide updates on the source attribution models developed for Salmonella, and examine the application of whole-genome sequencing data combined with evolutionary modeling to investigate the putative sources and transmission pathways of NTS, with a focus on the epidemiology of NTS in Africa. This is essential information to decide where, what, and how control strategies might be applied most effectively., (© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)