Departments of Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA.
J Clin Microbiol. 2012 Mar;50(3):680-7. doi: 10.1128/JCM.06167-11. Epub 2011 Dec 21.
Campylobacter jejuni is a major zoonotic pathogen. A highly virulent, tetracycline-resistant C. jejuni clone (clone SA) has recently emerged in ruminant reservoirs and has become the predominant cause of sheep abortion in the United States. To determine whether clone SA is associated with human disease, we compared the clinical isolates of clone SA from sheep abortions with the human isolates of the PulseNet National Campylobacter databases at the CDC and the FDA using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), multilocus sequence typing (MLST), and serotyping. The combined SmaI and KpnI PFGE pattern designations of clone SA from sheep were indistinguishable from those of 123 (9.03%) human C. jejuni isolates (total, 1,361) in the CDC database, among which 56 were associated with sporadic infections and 67 were associated with outbreaks that occurred in multiple states from 2003 to 2010. Most of the outbreaks were attributed to raw milk, while the sources for most of the sporadic cases were unknown. All clone SA isolates examined, including PFGE-matched human isolates, belong to sequence type 8 (ST-8) by MLST and serotype HS:1,8, further indicating the clonality of the related isolates from different host species. Additionally, C. jejuni clone SA was identified in raw milk, cattle feces, the feces and bile of healthy sheep, and abortion cases of cattle and goats, indicating the broad distribution of this pathogenic clone in ruminants. These results provide strong molecular and epidemiological evidence for zoonotic transmission of this emergent clone from ruminants to humans and indicate that C. jejuni clone SA is an important threat to public health.
空肠弯曲菌是一种主要的人畜共患病病原体。一种高毒力、四环素耐药的空肠弯曲菌克隆（克隆 SA）最近在反刍动物宿主中出现，并已成为美国绵羊流产的主要原因。为了确定克隆 SA 是否与人类疾病有关，我们使用脉冲场凝胶电泳（PFGE）、多位点序列分型（MLST）和血清分型，将来自绵羊流产的克隆 SA 的临床分离株与美国疾病控制与预防中心（CDC）和食品药品监督管理局（FDA）的脉冲网全国弯曲菌数据库中的人类分离株进行比较。来自绵羊的克隆 SA 的 SmaI 和 KpnI 联合 PFGE 图谱设计与 CDC 数据库中 123 株（9.03%）人类空肠弯曲菌分离株（总计 1361 株）无法区分，其中 56 株与散发性感染有关，67 株与 2003 年至 2010 年在多个州发生的暴发有关。大多数暴发归因于生奶，而大多数散发病例的来源不明。所有检查的克隆 SA 分离株，包括 PFGE 匹配的人类分离株，通过 MLST 属于 8 型（ST-8），血清型为 HS:1,8，进一步表明来自不同宿主物种的相关分离株具有克隆性。此外，在生奶、牛粪便、健康绵羊的粪便和胆汁以及牛和山羊的流产病例中均鉴定出空肠弯曲菌克隆 SA，表明该致病克隆在反刍动物中的广泛分布。这些结果为从反刍动物向人类传播这种新兴克隆的人畜共患病传播提供了强有力的分子和流行病学证据，并表明空肠弯曲菌克隆 SA 对公共卫生构成了重要威胁。
