BACKGROUND: The genus Salmonella is a major pathogen of food and water-borne diseases because it has a wide range of host. Salmonella Typhi infections is classified as Group 1 mandatory notifiable infectious disease in Korea. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) has published the 2015 annual report on laboratory-confirmed human Salmonella infections that it summarize the distributions of Salmonella serovars isolated from EnterNet-Korea and seventeen Provincial Public Health and Environment Laboratories including thirteen National Quarantine laboratories in Korea.
CURRENT STATUS: The annual report data demonstrated that 562 isolates from human infections were ranked to be S. Enteritidis (n=134, 23.8%), Salmonella I 4,[5],12: i:- (n=75, 13.3%), S. Bareilly (n=63, 11.2%), S. Typhimurium (n=49, 8.7%). S. Typhi(=31, 5.5%) and other serovars in descending order. The isolation rate of rare serovars within the country has increased with varying serovars in outbreak cases. It also showed that in the past, the serovars had been mainly introduced from abroad, but domestic Salmonella infection outbreaks increased in the recent 5-8 years.
PROSPECTIVE FUTURE: KCDC has been striving to collect data from various range of hosts including food and animal isolates through research networks. The accumulated data are expected to be an important resource for the prevention and control of Salmonella infections in Korea.