Isolation and characterization ofListeriaspecies from rodents in natural environments in China

Abstract

Listeria is ubiquitous in a variety of environments and can be isolated from a wide range of animal hosts. Rodents are capable of carrying pathogenic bacteria in their intestines, such as Listeria, and can disseminate those pathogens into the natural environment and to where human activity occurs. In this study, we investigated the occurrence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Listeria spp. isolated from wild rodents found in natural environments in China. We collected 341 intestinal fecal samples of rodents from five different regions of China, all representing different rodent habitats. The antimicrobial susceptibility of the Listeria spp. isolates obtained were firstly assessed using the Kirby–Bauer disk diffusion method. Thirty-one samples were positive for Listeria spp., of which 11 were positive for Listeria monocytogenes and seven were positive for Listeria ivanovii. Other species identified include Listeria innocua, Listeria fleischmannii and Listeria floridensis. All Listeria spp. isolates were sensitive to the majority of the antimicrobials tested, but largely resistant to oxacillin (94.1%) and cefuroxime (70.6%). All L. monocytogenes isolates were further characterized by serotyping, multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). L. monocytogenes strains were grouped into three serotypes, five sequence types and five pulsotypes (PTs) by serotyping, MLST and PFGE, respectively. Almost half of the isolates (five of 11) belonged to serotype 1/2b, ST87 and PT1. This study determined that Listeria is carried in the intestinal tracts of wild rodents from multiple regions at a low rate, filling an epidemiological data gap on Listeria in natural environments in China.

Listeria monocytogenes at the human–wildlife interface: black bears (Ursus americanus) as potential vehicles for Listeria

“…The prevalence of L. monocytogenes in our study (36%) was noticeably higher than in most other wildlife surveys, where prevalence ranged from 0.3% to 18% (Hayashidani et al , ; Lyautey et al , ; Wacheck et al , ; Nowakiewicz et al , ; Weindl et al , ; Wang et al ., ; Cao et al , ;). Only two wildlife studies, involving urban birds in Finland and France, respectively, yielded prevalence levels of 33–36% (Bouttefroy et al , ; Hellstrom et al , ), similar to what we found in the bears.…”

“…has rarely been found in other wildlife studies, where in fact the opposite was frequently observed, with L. monocytogenes tending to be noticeably less common than other Listeria spp. (Innoue et al, 1992;Quessy and Messier, 1992;Yoshida et al, 2000;Hellstr€ om et al, 2008;Wang et al, 2017;Cao , 2019). Only one study of rectal swabs from red fox, beech marten and raccoons in Poland found that, even though overall Listeria prevalence was low (approx.…”

Microbial study of household hygiene conditions and associated Listeria monocytogenes infection risks for Peruvian women

“…(2017) in China, Listeria spp. was detected in 31 of 341 intestinal rodent faeces, 11 of which were a detection of L. monocytogenes , specifically . Of these Listeria spp., 94.1% were resistant to oxacillin and 70.6% were resistant to cefuroxime .…”

“…was detected in 31 of 341 intestinal rodent faeces, 11 of which were a detection of L. monocytogenes , specifically . Of these Listeria spp., 94.1% were resistant to oxacillin and 70.6% were resistant to cefuroxime . In addition to potential environmental sources of L. monocytogenes , more information is needed regarding the role of guinea pig consumption and storage and care of guinea pigs in these communities in terms of hygiene and potential contamination in the home.…”

Development of a loop‐mediated isothermal amplification assay targeting lmo 0753 gene for detection of Listeria monocytogenes in wastewater

“…are commonly found in natural environments such as soils, sewage, surface water, wastewater sludge, vegetation, excrements and animal faeces (Lyautey et al ). The genus Listeria consists of 17 species including L. monocytogenes , L. innocua , L. welshimeri , L. ivanovii , L. seeligeri , L. grayi , L. marthii , L. fleischmannii , L. floridensis , L. rocourtiae , L. weihenstephanensis , L. cornellensis , L. aquatica , L. riparia , L. grandensis , L. booriae and L. newyorkensis (Wang et al ).…”