Swift Craig, Crewdson Adam, Chan Yung-Wai, Painset Anais, Douglas Amy, Gokool Suzanne, Jenkins Claire, Godbole Gauri
UK-Health Security Agency, London, England, UK.
J Med Microbiol. 2025 Jun;74(6). doi: 10.1099/jmm.0.002017.
Campylobacteriosis is the leading cause of gastroenteritis worldwide, and species are the most frequently reported zoonotic, bacterial foodborne pathogens in England. Currently, less than 2.0% of isolates in England undergo strain identification and typing, resulting in limited insight into their molecular epidemiology. To assess the feasibility of using high-throughput whole-genome sequencing (WGS) to generate data for microbiological and epidemiological analysis by the implementation of a 3-month enhanced laboratory surveillance for spp. in England, and to make recommendations for improving the current surveillance strategies. All diagnostic laboratories in England were encouraged to refer isolates of spp. for WGS over a 3-month period (7 June-31 August 2021). Over 6,000 species isolates were characterized, of which 87.5% were successfully identified as and 8.1% as . Just over half of the isolates were referred from patients who were male (53%), and isolates tended to be from older patients than , with median ages of 55 and 44 years, respectively. The most common multi-locus sequencing type clonal complex identified was ST-21, and within this, the sequencing type ST6175 was the most frequently identified, of which 96.8% were predicted to carry antimicrobial resistance determinants, inferring reduced susceptibility to both ciprofloxacin and tetracycline. The four largest 5-single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) clusters, associated with the larger clonal complexes and sequence type groups (ST6175, ST48, ST6175 and ST5136), accounted for 23.8% (=1,150/4,838) of SNP typable isolates. Conversely, 28.4% and 39.5% of isolates and respectively, appeared to be sporadic, with each isolate assigned a unique SNP address at the 5-SNP level. WGS enabled identification of genetically related clusters of isolates in almost real time and shows potential for monitoring of inferred antimicrobial resistance. However, unlocking its full potential requires referral of sufficient and representative isolates for sequencing with parallel epidemiological data collection.
弯曲杆菌病是全球肠胃炎的主要病因，在英国，弯曲杆菌属是最常报告的人畜共患细菌性食源性病原体。目前，英国不到2.0%的弯曲杆菌属分离株进行了菌株鉴定和分型，这使得对其分子流行病学的了解有限。为了评估通过在英国对弯曲杆菌属进行为期3个月的强化实验室监测，使用高通量全基因组测序（WGS）生成微生物学和流行病学分析数据的可行性，并为改进当前的弯曲杆菌监测策略提出建议。鼓励英国所有诊断实验室在3个月内（2021年6月7日至8月31日）将弯曲杆菌属分离株送去进行WGS检测。对6000多个弯曲杆菌属分离株进行了特征分析，其中87.5%被成功鉴定为空肠弯曲杆菌，8.1%为结肠弯曲杆菌。略超过一半的分离株来自男性患者（53%），空肠弯曲杆菌分离株的患者年龄往往比结肠弯曲杆菌分离株的患者大，中位年龄分别为55岁和44岁。鉴定出的最常见的多位点测序型克隆复合体是ST-21，其中测序型ST6175是最常鉴定出的，预计其中96.8%携带抗菌药物耐药决定簇，这意味着对环丙沙星和四环素的敏感性降低。与较大的克隆复合体和序列类型组（ST6175、ST48、ST6175和ST5136）相关的四个最大的5-单核苷酸多态性（SNP）簇，占可进行SNP分型分离株的23.8%（=1150/4838）。相反，空肠弯曲杆菌和结肠弯曲杆菌分离株分别有28.4%和39.5%似乎是散发性的，每个分离株在5-SNP水平上都有一个独特的SNP地址。WGS几乎可以实时鉴定弯曲杆菌属分离株的遗传相关簇，并显示出监测推断的抗菌药物耐药性的潜力。然而，要充分发挥其潜力，需要送去足够且有代表性的分离株进行测序，并同时收集流行病学数据。
