Wastewater-based Surveillance of Salmonella Senftenberg as an Early-warning Indicator for Foodborne Outbreaks - Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province, China, 2023-2025.

WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS TOPIC?: Salmonella Senftenberg (S. Senftenberg) ‌has emerged as a critical foodborne pathogen associated with major outbreaks. Currently, there is a lack of capacity for proactive risk prediction or preemptive containment of this serotype.

WHAT IS ADDED BY THIS REPORT?: This study demonstrates that core-genome SNP analysis confirmed clonal identity between foodborne outbreak-associated and wastewater-derived ST14 S. Senftenberg isolates. Phylogenetically linked strains were identified in wastewater samples 7-14 days before the outbreak and persisted for more than 3 weeks.

WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE?: Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) provides a critical early-warning signal for emerging foodborne outbreaks of serotype-specific Salmonella. When integrated with whole-genome sequencing (WGS), it offers distinct advantages in identifying cryptic transmission chains and undetected community-acquired foodborne infections.