Advances in our understanding and distribution of the Cronobacter genus in China

Abstract

This review considers how research in China has progressed our understanding and subsequent improved control of Cronobacter. This emergent bacterial pathogen is associated with neonatal infections through the ingestion of contaminated prepared feed. The review includes large‐scale surveys of various sources of the organism, including infant formula production facilities. The analysis of over 20,000 samples is presented. Over 10,000 being from powdered infant formula and other infant foods as well as environmental sampling of production facilities, the remaining being from food, food ingredients, and human carriage. A major advance in China was adopting DNA‐sequence‐based methods (that is, multilocus sequence typing, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats‐cas array profiling, and single‐nucleotide polymorphism analysis) for the identification and genotyping of the organism. These methods have considerably advanced our understanding of the taxonomy, ecology, and virulence of this organism. In turn, this has improved source tracking of the organism both in infant formula production facilities and epidemiological investigations. Furthermore, whole‐genome sequencing has revealed a range of virulence and persistence mechanisms as well as plasmid‐borne multidrug resistance traits. China now has reliable and robust methods for accurate microbial source tracking of Cronobacter for use both in the food production environment and epidemiological analysis.

Cronobacter spp. in Commercial Powdered Infant Formula Collected From Nine Provinces in China: Prevalence, Genotype, Biofilm Formation, and Antibiotic Susceptibility

“…Over the years, many studies have been devoted to investigating the occurrence of Cronobacter spp. in PIF in the Chinese market, in order to provide an early warning of risk to consumers and public safety (Pan et al, 2014 ; Fei et al, 2017b ; Zhang et al, 2017 ; Ling et al, 2021 ). Pan et al ( 2014 ) detected 19 Cronobacter strains from 165 PIF samples, with a prevalence rate of 11.50%, from December 2011 to December 2012.…”

“…in PIF collected from Chinese retail markets from January 2015 to March 2017, and the prevalence rate was 2.80%. Ling et al ( 2021 ) reviewed the incidences (Range from 0.90 to 23.10%) of Cronobacter spp. isolated from PIF in China from 2004 to 2018, which claimed to cover over 10,000 PIF samples in total.…”

“…isolated from PIF can reveal its molecular characterization, and contribute to the prevention and source tracking of this pathogen (Fei et al, 2018 ; Ling et al, 2021 ). Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) is considered a powerful tool for detection and genotyping of Cronobacter spp., because of discrimination at species level and information sharing platform (Joseph and Forsythe, 2012 ; Joseph et al, 2012 ; Li C. et al, 2020 ; Ling et al, 2021 ). To date, 3,506 Cronobacter spp.…”

Profiling the Virulence and Antibiotic Resistance Genes of Cronobacter sakazakii Strains Isolated From Powdered and Dairy Formulas by Whole-Genome Sequencing

“…Internationally, the incidence of Cronobacter spp. in PM ranges from 3 to 30% ( Ling et al, 2021 ). In Chile, its incidence in PIF was 9.5% in 2015, 35% in 2017, and 4.7% in 2020 ( Parra et al, 2015 ; Parra-Flores et al, 2018b , 2020 ).…”

Outer Membrane Protein F Is Involved in Biofilm Formation, Virulence and Antibiotic Resistance in Cronobacter sakazakii

“…C. sakazakii CC4 and C. sakazakii ST12 have been recognized as specific pathovars associated with particular neonatal and adult infections [3,4]. In addition, C. sakazakii also has a wide range of habitats, and it has been found in powdered milk substitutes, meters and even in domestic kitchen sponges [5][6][7].…”