Salgado JRS, Rabinovitch L, Gomes MDFDS, Allil RCDSB, Werneck MM, Rodrigues RB, Picão RC, de Oliveira Luiz FB, Vivoni AM. Detection of Bacillus anthracis and Bacillus anthracis-like spores in soil from state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz 2020;
115:e200370. [PMID:
33174903 PMCID:
PMC7646210 DOI:
10.1590/0074-02760200370]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2020] [Accepted: 10/14/2020] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Bacillus anthracis is the aetiologic agent of anthrax, a re-emerging, septicaemic, haemorrhagic and lethal disease that affects humans, domestic ruminants and wildlife. Plasmids pXO1 and pXO2 are attributes that confer pathogenicity to B. anthracis strains. This bacterium was used as biological weapon in the World Wars and in the biological attack in the United States of America at 2001. B. anthracis is classified as a Tier 1 bioterrorism agent by the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention. Anthrax is recognised as a re-emerging disease. Several studies concerning the dynamics of B. anthracis cycle in soil revealed that nonpathogenic B. anthracis strains due to lack of pXO2 plasmid are commonly found in some types of soil.
OBJECTIVES
This study aimed isolation and identification of B. anthracis spores in soil samples of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
METHODS
Phenotypic and genotypic approaches were used to identify isolates including MALDI-TOF/MS, motility test, susceptibility to gamma phage and penicillin, survey for pag and cap genes as surrogates of pXO1 and pXO2 plasmids, respectively, and sequencing of 16SrRNA-encoding gene. Physicochemical analysis of the soil samples were carried out to describe soil characteristics.
FINDINGS
We observed the presence of one B. anthracis pXO1+ and pXO2- isolated from clay loam soil; one B. anthracis-like strain pXO1+ and pXO2-isolated from loamy sand; and 10 Bacillus spp. strains sensitive to phage-gamma that need better characterisation to define which their species were recovered from loamy sand.
MAIN CONCLUSIONS
This work showed promising results and it was the first study to report results from an active surveillance for B. anthracis in Brazil.
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