Mechanisms of chronic infection of food-production animals by Salmonella

Salmonella is the most frequent cause for food-borne outbreaks in the EU. This is mainly caused by the fact that chronic Salmonella infections often are asymptomatic and therefore goes un-noticed. These persistent infections serve as a major reservoir of zoonotic transmission of Salmonella from live-stock to food-products to humans.
THE PROJECT
In this project, we will investigate the molecular mechanisms of chronic asymptomatic infection by the human pathogen Salmonella in experimental animals as a model for chronic infections of food-production animals.
The project will employ two strategies:
1) A specific investigation based on the hypothesis that persistent Salmonella bacteria arise as a metabolically inactive subpopulation during acute infection.
2) A generalized broad screen for Salmonella genes required for persistent infection of an animal model.
THE RESULTS
The results from this project will make significant contributions to our knowledge about chronic asymptomatic infections by Salmonella in particular and development of chronic bacterial infections in general. The knowledge generated in this project will be highly useful for the development of new tools to detect persistent infections, novel targets to eradicate Salmonella in the food-chain and potentially also to find new ways to treat chronic infections.
FUNDING AND PROJECT PERIOD
This project has been funded by The Danish Council for Independent Research: Technology and Production Sciences (DKK 3,2 million ).