Elizabethkingia miricolainfection in Chinese spiny frog (Quasipaa spinosa)

Abstract

Elizabethkingia miricola is a Gram‐negative rod which has been incriminated in severe infections in humans. Recently, a serious infectious disease was identified in Chinese spiny frogs (Quasipaa spinosa), in the Sichuan Province of China; the disease was characterized by corneal opacity, the presence of ascites and neurological symptoms. A Gram‐negative bacillus was isolated from the liver, spleen and kidney of the diseased frogs. Experimental infection test revealed that the bacillus could infect the frogs Q. spinosa and the LD50 value was 1.19 × 106 cfu per frog. The isolated Gram‐negative bacillus was identified as E. miricola according to phenotypic characteristics, 16S rRNA and gyrB gene sequence analysis. The isolated strain was only susceptible to florfenicol among all investigated chemotherapeutic agents. Histological examination revealed that E. miricola infection caused pathological lesions to multiple organs and tissues, especially in the liver, brain, kidney. These results confirmed that E. miricola is an emerging pathogen of Chinese spiny frogs.

Elizabethkingia Infections in Humans: From Genomics to Clinics

“…Microorganisms in the genus Elizabethkingia are Gram-negative, aerobic, pale yellow-pigmented, nonmotile, glucose-non-fermenting, non-spore-forming, oxidase-positive, weakly indole-positive, and nitrate-negative bacilli (Figure 1) [1,2]. These bacteria are ubiquitously distributed in natural environments such as water, soils, fish, frogs, and insects [3,4,5,6,7,8], as well as in the tap water of hospitals [9,10,11]. Since its first identification in 1959 [12], Elizabethkingia has been occasionally reported to cause human infections.…”

Candidate Animal Disease Model of Elizabethkingia Spp. Infection in Humans, Based on the Systematic Pathology and Oxidative Damage Caused by E. miricola in Pelophylax nigromaculatus

“…Interestingly, several studies have found that Elizabethkingia spp. can cause meningoencephalitis in frogs, including the African clawed frog ( Xenopus laevis ) [20], bullfrog ( Rana catesbeiana Shaw) [21], leopard frog ( Lithobates pipiens ) [22], tiger frog ( Rana rugulosa ) [23], black-spotted frog ( Pelophylax nigromaculata ) [24], and spiny frog ( Quasipaa spinosa ) [25]. Infected frogs display severe neurological symptoms and meningoencephalitis similar to those in humans.…”

Genomic analysis of Elizabethkingia species from aquatic environments: Evidence for potential clinical transmission

“…Contaminated water is implicated in Elizabethkingia spp. transmission pathways ( Booth, 2014 ), yet with the exception of insects ( Kämpfer et al., 2011 ), frogs ( Hu et al., 2017 ; Lei et al., 2019 ), reptiles ( Jiang et al., 2017 ) and spacecraft ( Li et al., 2003 ), most studies on Elizabethkingia genus have focused on clinical isolates and isolates taken from hospital environments, leaving Elizabethkingia species dwelling in aquatic environments unexplored. Here we characterized WGS of 94 Elizabethkingia derived from dam, river, and wetland samples from South Australia, thereby providing the first study of Elizabethkingia from diverse aquatic environments.…”

“…Elizabethkingia species are aerobic, Gram-negative bacilli members of Weeksellaceae commonly found in the environment, particularly in soil and freshwater bodies, as well as insects and amphibians ( Dworkin et al., 2006 ; García-López et al., 2019 ; Jean et al., 2014 ; Lei et al., 2019 ). There are currently six identified Elizabethkingia species, all of which have undergone various taxonomic and nomenclature makeovers ( Lin et al., 2019a ).…”