Pioneering the efforts in Preventing Turkey Salmonella Outbreaks in US

   VBS Professor Tim Johnson was recently featured in an interview conducted by Mark Dorenkamp with Brownfield Agricultural News for America summarized, "Breakthrough in preventing salmonella outbreaks."

   The interview explains how Dr. Johnson and his research team began this study due to a major outbreak in the United State linked to ground turkey meat. The team looked at the turkey genomics to try to identify how and why this happened. The strain that was causing the problem was relatively rare prior to this outbreak. They discovered that this strain had emerged and mutated, and the mutations had made it more lethal to humans and more persistent in the turkey environment.

   The goal is to use the information they have gathered and take a more proactive stance by identifying risk factors so they can build and develop a pipeline to be more prepared before any future outbreaks. This study was made possible by partnerships with the poultry industry, public health department, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.