MLST-based genetic relatedness of Campylobacter jejuni isolated from chickens and humans in Poland

Abstract

Campylobacter jejuni infection is one of the most frequently reported foodborne bacterial diseases worldwide. The main transmission route of these microorganisms to humans is consumption of contaminated food, especially of chicken origin. The aim of this study was to analyze the genetic relatedness of C. jejuni from chicken sources (feces, carcasses, and meat) and from humans with diarrhea as well as to subtype the isolates to gain better insight into their population structure present in Poland. C. jejuni were genotyped using multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and sequence types (STs) were assigned in the MLST database. Among 602 isolates tested, a total of 121 different STs, including 70 (57.9%) unique to the isolates' origin, and 32 STs that were not present in the MLST database were identified. The most prevalent STs were ST464 and ST257, with 58 (9.6%) and 52 (8.6%) C. jejuni isolates, respectively. Isolates with some STs (464, 6411, 257, 50) were shown to be common in chickens, whereas others (e.g. ST21 and ST572) were more often identified among human C. jejuni. It was shown that of 47 human sequence types, 26 STs (106 isolates), 23 STs (102 isolates), and 29 STs (100 isolates) were also identified in chicken feces, meat, and carcasses, respectively. These results, together with the high and similar proportional similarity indexes (PSI) calculated for C. jejuni isolated from patients and chickens, may suggest that human campylobacteriosis was associated with contaminated chicken meat or meat products or other kinds of food cross-contaminated with campylobacters of chicken origin. The frequency of various sequence types identified in the present study generally reflects of the prevalence of STs in other countries which may suggest that C. jejuni with some STs have a global distribution, while other genotypes may be more restricted to certain countries.

High prevalence of Campylobacter jejuni CC21 and CC257 clonal complexes in children with gastroenteritis in Tehran, Iran

“…Meanwhile, consistent with our finding, ST-50 and ST-19 (CC21) and ST-257 were mostly related to human campylobacteriosis cases [ 36 – 38 ]. However, isolates from other sources (fresh whole retail chicken, raw milk and environmental water) also presented CC21 as dominant CCs [ 39 , 40 ].…”

“…Within CC21, ST-50 was the dominant ST in our clinical samples, although not all of previous studies reported ST-50 as the dominant sequence type [34,35]. Meanwhile, consistent with our finding, ST-50 and ST-19 (CC21) and ST-257 were mostly related to human campylobacteriosis cases [36][37][38]. However, isolates from other sources (fresh whole retail chicken, raw milk and environmental water) also presented CC21 as dominant CCs [39,40].…”

High prevalence of Campylobacter jejuni CC21 and CC257 clonal complexes in children with gastroenteritis in Tehran, Iran

“…Meanwhile, consistent with our nding, ST-50 and ST-19 (CC21) and ST-257 were mostly related to human campylobacteriosis cases [36][37][38]. However, isolates from other sources (fresh whole retail chicken, raw milk and environmental water) also presented CC21 as dominant CCs [39,40].…”

Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles, Virulence Genes, and Genetic Diversity of Thermophilic Campylobacter Species Isolated From a Layer Poultry Farm in Korea

“…Globally, CC-45 has been found in various hosts, including poultry, cattle, dogs, wild birds, penguins, and it was also isolated from environmental samples ( Cody et al, 2012 ; Shin et al, 2013 ), while CC-607 is largely associated with chicken and humans as reported from the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Thailand, and Uruguay ( Cody et al, 2012 ; Duarte et al, 2014 ; Guyard-Nicodème et al, 2015 ). ST-45 and ST-50, predominant in Korea, are also common in C. jejuni from chickens in Europe ( Wieczorek et al, 2020b ). In 2019, ST-21, ST-50, and ST-137 have been isolated from wild ducks, indicating their widespread distribution ( Wei et al, 2019 ).…”