Climate change will increase the risk of the foodborne illness from Salmonella enterica, according to a new study.
Climate change will increase the risk of the foodborne illness from Salmonella enterica, according to a new study. The research was published today in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
S. enterica causes disease in 1.2 million people in the U.S. every year. In recent years, the most common route of infection has been the consumption of contaminated fresh produce. Salmonella survives on multiple agricultural crops and persists in the soil for extended periods of time. On plants, researchers have found that Salmonella exploits changes to the plant environment imparted by other organisms. Plants infected with bacterial phytopathogens (organisms that cause disease in plants) result in increased persistence for this human enteric pathogen.
“It's not surprising that a host is altered by disease. What's interesting is how these changes affect other members of the bacteria community, in addition to the pathogen causing the disease. Furthermore, the impact of increased humidity on healthy plants also supported Salmonella's survival on plants, which would make climate change a food safety issue,” said corresponding study author Jeri Barak, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Controlling plant disease, such as bacterial leaf spot of lettuce, is also important for food safety. Climate change will increase the risk of foodborne illness from consumption of raw produce.”
Read more at American Society for Microbiology
Photo Credit: Grigorijkalyuzhnyj via Pixabay
