Saif Nehal A, Cobo-Díaz José F, Elserafy Menattallah, El-Shiekh Iman, Álvarez-Ordóñez Avelino, Mouftah Shaimaa F, Elhadidy Mohamed
Biomedical Sciences Program, University of Science and Technology, Zewail City of Science and Technology, Giza, Egypt.
Department of Food Hygiene and Technology, Universidad de León, León, Spain.
Transbound Emerg Dis. 2022 Jul;69(4):1847-1861. doi: 10.1111/tbed.14165. Epub 2021 Jun 9.
Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni), is considered among the most common bacterial causes of human bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide. The epidemiology and the transmission dynamics of campylobacteriosis in Egypt remain poorly defined due to the limited use of high-resolution typing methods. In this pilot study, we evaluated the discriminatory power of multiple typing 'gene-by-gene based' techniques to characterize C. jejuni obtained from different sources and estimate the relative contribution of different potential sources of C. jejuni infection in Egypt. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) was performed on 90 C. jejuni isolates recovered from clinical samples, retail chicken, and dairy products in Egypt from 2017 to 2018. Comparative genomic analysis was performed using conventional seven-locus multilocus sequence typing (MLST), ribosomal MLST (rMLST), core genome MLST (cgMLST), allelic variation in 15 host-segregating (HS) markers, and comparative genomic fingerprinting (CGF40). The probabilistic source attribution was performed via STRUCTURE software using MLST, CGF40, cgMLST and allelic variation in HS markers. Comparison of the discriminatory power of the aforementioned genotyping methods revealed cgMLST to be the most discriminative method, followed by HS markers. The source attribution analysis showed the role of retail chicken as a source of infection among clinical cases in Egypt when HS and cgMLST were used (64.2% and 52.3% of clinical isolates were assigned to this source, respectively). Interestingly, the cattle reservoir was also identified as a contributor to C. jejuni infection in Egypt; 35.8% and 47.7% of clinical isolates were assigned to this source by HS and cgMLST, respectively. Here, we provided evidence of the importance of using WGS typing methods to facilitate source tracking of C. jejuni. Our findings suggest the importance of non-poultry sources, together with the previously reported role of retail chicken in human campylobacteriosis in Egypt that can provide insights to inform national control measures.
空肠弯曲菌（C. jejuni）被认为是全球人类细菌性肠胃炎最常见的细菌病因之一。由于高分辨率分型方法使用有限，埃及弯曲菌病的流行病学和传播动态仍不清楚。在这项试点研究中，我们评估了多种“逐个基因”分型技术的鉴别能力，以鉴定从不同来源获得的空肠弯曲菌，并估计埃及空肠弯曲菌感染不同潜在来源的相对贡献。对2017年至2018年从埃及临床样本、零售鸡肉和乳制品中分离出的90株空肠弯曲菌进行了全基因组测序（WGS）。使用传统的七基因多位点序列分型（MLST）、核糖体MLST（rMLST）、核心基因组MLST（cgMLST）、15个宿主分离（HS）标记的等位基因变异以及比较基因组指纹图谱（CGF40）进行了比较基因组分析。通过STRUCTURE软件，利用MLST、CGF40、cgMLST和HS标记的等位基因变异进行概率性来源归因。上述基因分型方法鉴别能力的比较显示，cgMLST是最具鉴别力的方法，其次是HS标记。来源归因分析表明，在埃及临床病例中，当使用HS和cgMLST时，零售鸡肉作为感染源发挥了作用（分别有64.2%和52.3%的临床分离株被归为此来源）。有趣的是，牛群也被确定为埃及空肠弯曲菌感染的一个来源；分别有35.8%和47.7%的临床分离株通过HS和cgMLST被归为此来源。在此，我们提供了证据，证明使用WGS分型方法有助于空肠弯曲菌的来源追踪。我们的研究结果表明，非家禽来源很重要，同时之前报道的零售鸡肉在埃及人类弯曲菌病中的作用，可为国家控制措施提供参考。
