VetBact

Introduction

The genus Salmonella is divided into two (or three) species: Salmonella bongori, Salmonella enterica (and possibly Salmonella subterranea), see also Salmonella spp. Salmonella enterica is divided into six subspecies, where Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica is of highest interest in human and veterinary medicine. S. enterica subsp. enterica is in turn divided into several hundred different serovars, based on their antigenic composition. The abbreviation S. for Salmonella may be used if there are no ambiguities in the text. The different serovars then get very long names, so there is a convention to abbreviate them in a certain way, where Salmonella (or S.) should be printed and in an italic fontit. The name of the serovar must be written in the regular font and in capital first letter. The first time the long scientific name is used in a text, however, it must be printed out in full. The table below lists some common serovars with full and abbreviated names and their most common host animals.

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*You may also abbreviate Salmonella to S. here, if it can't be misunderstood, although it doesn't look so nice in text.

Please note that the most common serovar on a certain animal species and in a certain geographic area is not necessarily the most common serovar on the same animal species, but in a different geographic area.

Updated: 2023-02-22.