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Blau K, Berger FK, Mellmann A, Gallert C. Clostridioides difficile from Fecally Contaminated Environmental Sources: Resistance and Genetic Relatedness from a Molecular Epidemiological Perspective. Microorganisms 2023; 11:2497. [PMID: 37894155 PMCID: PMC10608975 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11102497] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2023] [Revised: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 09/28/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Clostridioides difficile is the most important pathogen causing antimicrobial-associated diarrhea and has recently been recognized as a cause of community-associated C. difficile infection (CA-CDI). This study aimed to characterize virulence factors, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), ribotype (RT) distribution and genetic relationship of C. difficile isolates from diverse fecally contaminated environmental sources. C. difficile isolates were recovered from different environmental samples in Northern Germany. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was determined by E-test or disk diffusion method. Toxin genes (tcdA and tcdB), genes coding for binary toxins (cdtAB) and ribotyping were determined by PCR. Furthermore, 166 isolates were subjected to whole genome sequencing (WGS) for core genome multi-locus sequence typing (cgMLST) and extraction of AMR and virulence-encoding genes. Eighty-nine percent (148/166) of isolates were toxigenic, and 51% (76/148) were positive for cdtAB. Eighteen isolates (11%) were non-toxigenic. Thirty distinct RTs were identified. The most common RTs were RT127, RT126, RT001, RT078, and RT014. MLST identified 32 different sequence types (ST). The dominant STs were ST11, followed by ST2, ST3, and ST109. All isolates were susceptible to vancomycin and metronidazole and displayed a variable rate of resistance to moxifloxacin (14%), clarithromycin (26%) and rifampicin (2%). AMR genes, such as gyrA/B, blaCDD-1/2, aph(3')-llla-sat-4-ant(6)-la cassette, ermB, tet(M), tet(40), and tetA/B(P), conferring resistance toward fluoroquinolone, beta-lactam, aminoglycoside, macrolide and tetracycline antimicrobials, were found in 166, 137, 29, 32, 21, 72, 17, and 9 isolates, respectively. Eleven "hypervirulent" RT078 strains were detected, and several isolates belonged to RTs (i.e., RT127, RT126, RT023, RT017, RT001, RT014, RT020, and RT106) associated with CA-CDI, indicating possible transmission between humans and environmental sources pointing out to a zoonotic potential.
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Affiliation(s)
- Khald Blau
- Department of Microbiology–Biotechnology, Faculty of Technology, University of Applied Sciences Emden/Leer, 26723 Emden, Germany;
| | - Fabian K. Berger
- Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, Saarland University Medical Center, 66421 Homburg, Germany;
- German National Reference Center for Clostridioides Difficile, 66421 Homburg, Germany;
| | - Alexander Mellmann
- German National Reference Center for Clostridioides Difficile, 66421 Homburg, Germany;
- Institute of Hygiene, University of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Claudia Gallert
- Department of Microbiology–Biotechnology, Faculty of Technology, University of Applied Sciences Emden/Leer, 26723 Emden, Germany;
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Chaudhry R, Sharma N, Bahadur T, Khullar S, Agarwal SK, Gahlowt A, Gupta N, Kumar L, Kabra SK, Dey AB. Molecular characterization of Clostridioides difficile by multi-locus sequence typing (MLST): A study from tertiary care center in India. Anaerobe 2022; 75:102545. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anaerobe.2022.102545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2021] [Revised: 02/26/2022] [Accepted: 03/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
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Pecora N, Holzbauer S, Wang X, Gu Y, Taffner S, Hatwar T, Hardy D, Dziejman M, D’Heilly P, Pung K, Guh A, Qiu X, Gill S, Dumyati G. Genomic Analysis of Clostridioides difficile in 2 Regions of the United States Reveals a Diversity of Strains and Limited Transmission. J Infect Dis 2022; 225:121-129. [PMID: 34107037 PMCID: PMC8655013 DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jiab294] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2021] [Accepted: 06/07/2021] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The distribution of Clostridioides difficile strains and transmission dynamics in the United States are not well defined. Whole-genome sequencing across 2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Emerging Infections Program C. difficile infection (CDI) surveillance regions (Minnesota and New York) was performed to identify predominant multilocus sequence types (MLSTs) in community-associated (CA) and healthcare-associated (HCA) disease and assess transmission. METHODS Whole-genome sequencing was performed on C. difficile isolates from patients with CDI over 3 months between 2016 and 2017. Patients were residents of the catchment area without a positive C. difficile test in the preceding 8 weeks. CDI cases were epidemiologically classified as HCA or CA. RESULTS Of 422 isolates, 212 (50.2%) were HCA and 203 (48.1%) were CA. Predominant MLSTs were sequence type (ST) 42 (9.3%), ST8 (7.8%), and ST2 (8.1%). MLSTs associated with HCA-CDI included ST1 (76%), ST53 (83.3%), and ST43 (80.0%), while those associated with CA-CDI included ST3 (76.9%) and ST41 (77.8%). ST1 was more frequent in New York than in Minnesota (10.8% vs 3.1%). Thirty-three pairs were closely related genomically, 14 of which had potential patient-to-patient transmission supported by record review. CONCLUSIONS The genomic epidemiology of C. difficile across 2 regions of the United States indicates the presence of a diverse strain profile and limited direct transmission.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole Pecora
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
| | - Stacy Holzbauer
- Minnesota EIP, Minnesota Department of Health, St Paul, Minnesota, USA,,Career Epidemiology Field Officer Program, Division of State and Local Readiness, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Xiong Wang
- Public Health Laboratory, Minnesota Department of Health, St Paul, Minnesota, USA
| | - Yu Gu
- Dept of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
| | - Samantha Taffner
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
| | - Trupti Hatwar
- Center for Community Health and Prevention, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
| | - Dwight Hardy
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA,,Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
| | - Michelle Dziejman
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
| | - Paige D’Heilly
- Minnesota EIP, Minnesota Department of Health, St Paul, Minnesota, USA
| | - Kelly Pung
- Public Health Laboratory, Minnesota Department of Health, St Paul, Minnesota, USA
| | - Alice Guh
- Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Xing Qiu
- Dept of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
| | - Steven Gill
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA,,Genomics Research Center, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
| | - Ghinwa Dumyati
- Center for Community Health and Prevention, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA,,Department of Medicine, Infectious Diseases Division, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA
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Okada Y, Okugawa S, Ikeda M, Kobayashi T, Saito R, Higurashi Y, Moriya K. Genetic diversity and epidemiology of accessory gene regulator loci in Clostridioides difficile. Access Microbiol 2020; 2:acmi000134. [PMID: 32974597 PMCID: PMC7497831 DOI: 10.1099/acmi.0.000134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2020] [Accepted: 04/25/2020] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Quorum sensing is known to regulate bacterial virulence, and the accessory gene regulator (agr) loci is one of the genetic loci responsible for its regulation. Recent reports examining Clostridioides difficile show that two agr loci, agr1 and agr2, regulate toxin production, but the diversity of agr loci and their epidemiology is unknown. In our study, in silico analysis was performed to research genetic diversity of agr, and C. difficile isolates from clinical samples underwent multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and PCR analysis of agr loci. To reveal the distribution of agr among different strains, phylogenetic analysis was also performed. In our in silico analysis, two different subtypes, named agr2R and agr2M, were found in agr2, which were previously reported. PCR analysis of 133 C . difficile isolates showed that 131 strains had agr1, 61 strains had agr2R, and 26 strains had agr2M; agr2R was mainly found in clade 1 or clade 2 organisms, whereas agr2M was only found in clade 4. With rare exception, agr1-negative sequence types (STs) belonged to clade C-Ⅰ and C-Ⅲ, and one clade 4 strain had agr2R. Our study revealed subtypes of agr2 not previously recognized, and the distribution of several agr loci in C. difficile . These findings provide a foundation for further functional and clinical research of the agr loci.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuta Okada
- Department of Infectious Diseases, The University of Tokyo Hospital, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Shu Okugawa
- Department of Infectious Diseases, The University of Tokyo Hospital, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Mahoko Ikeda
- Department of Infectious Diseases, The University of Tokyo Hospital, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
- Department of Infection Control and Prevention, The University of Tokyo Hospital, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Tatsuya Kobayashi
- Department of Infectious Diseases, The University of Tokyo Hospital, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Ryoichi Saito
- Department of Molecular Microbiology, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Yoshimi Higurashi
- Department of Infection Control and Prevention, The University of Tokyo Hospital, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Kyoji Moriya
- Department of Infectious Diseases, The University of Tokyo Hospital, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
- Department of Infection Control and Prevention, The University of Tokyo Hospital, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
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