伤寒感染的主要病原体属于肠道沙门菌的伤寒沙门菌血清型,在大部分地区,这种感染占到 60%-80%。[13]Crump JA, Luby SP, Mintz ED. The global burden of typhoid fever. Bull World Health Organ. 2004;82:346-353.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15298225?tool=bestpractice.com[23]Safdar A, Kaur H, Elting L, et al. Antimicrobial susceptibility of 128 Salmonella enterica serovar typhi and paratyphi A isolates from northern India. Chemotherapy. 2004;50:88-91.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15211083?tool=bestpractice.com 肠道沙门菌的其他血清型有甲、乙、丙型副伤寒沙门菌三个种属,分布在不同地理区域。甲型副伤寒沙门菌是印度次大陆一种常见的病原体,而乙型副伤寒沙门菌可见于印度尼西亚、马来西亚、地中海地区及南美州,丙型副伤寒沙门菌则见于非洲。[24]Goh YL, Yasin R, Puthucheary SD, et al. DNA fingerprinting of human isolates of Salmonella enterica serotype paratyphi B in Malaysia. J Appl Microbiol. 2003;95:1134-1142.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14633043?tool=bestpractice.com[25]Ispahani P, Slack RC. Enteric fever and other extraintestinal salmonellosis in University Hospital, Nottingham, UK, between 1980 and 1997. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2000;19:679-687.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11057501?tool=bestpractice.com[26]Grewal HM, Jureen R, Steinsland H, et al. Molecular epidemiological study of Salmonella enterica serovar paratyphi B infections imported from Turkey to Western Norway. Scand J Infect Dis. 2002;34:5-10.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11878291?tool=bestpractice.com[27]Oboegbulam SI, Oguike JU, Gugnani HC. Microbiological studies on cases diagnosed as typhoid/enteric fever in south-east Nigeria. J Commun Dis. 1995;27:97-100.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7499779?tool=bestpractice.com[28]Kariuki S, Cheesbrough J, Mavridis AK, et al. Typing of Salmonella enterica serotype paratyphi C isolates from various countries by plasmid profiles and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. J Clin Microbiol. 1999;37:2058-2060.http://jcm.asm.org/content/37/6/2058.fullhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10325380?tool=bestpractice.com 所有种属均为限制性人类病原体,与其他许多沙门氏菌不同,它们不会感染家禽、爬行动物或哺乳类牲畜。
过去认为甲型副伤寒沙门菌的流行病学意义不大。但研究发现,在旅行者中,由副伤寒沙门菌所致疾病的发病率较高。来自尼泊尔的报告显示,十多年前,旅行者中的甲型副伤寒沙门菌与伤寒沙门菌感染的发生率之比为 70% vs 30%,正如预期一样,在当地人群中,该比值相反。[29]Schwartz E, Shlim DR, Eaton M, et al. The effect of oral and parenteral typhoid vaccination on the rate of infection with Salmonella typhi and Salmonella paratyphi A among foreigners in Nepal. Arch Intern Med. 1990;150:349-351.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2105702?tool=bestpractice.com
这种副伤寒沙门菌病原体感染病例不呈比例增加的原因可能是疫苗作用,接种的疫苗只能预防伤寒沙门菌感染。在以色列旅行者中,这一点被清楚地显示出来,在接种疫苗的患者中,29% 由甲型副伤寒沙门菌所致,而在未接种疫苗的患者中,仅 4% 由甲型副伤寒沙门菌所致。[18]Meltzer E, Sadik C, Schwartz E. Enteric fever in Israeli travelers: a nationwide study. J Travel Med. 2005;12:275-281.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16256052?tool=bestpractice.com
几个亚洲国家中,这一流行病学变化越来越快。例如,在中国河池地区(当地伤寒疫苗为常规免疫接种疫苗),培养阳性的病例中 64% 为甲型副伤寒沙门菌,而在加尔各答(印度)和卡拉奇(巴基斯坦)地区,这一比例分别为 15% 到 25%。[30]Ochiai RL, Wang X, von Seidlein L, et al. Salmonella paratyphi A rates, Asia. Emerg Infect Dis. 2005;11:1764-1766.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16318734?tool=bestpractice.com