Sandra Janežič (Author), Mojca Potočnik (Author), Valerija Zidarič (Author), Maja Rupnik (Author)

Abstract

Clostridium difficile is one of the most important human and animal pathogens. However, the bacterium is ubiquitous and can be isolated from various sources. Here we report the prevalence and characterization of C. difficile in less studied environmental samples, puddle water (n = 104) and soil (n = 79). C. difficile was detected in 14.4% of puddle water and in 36.7% of soil samples. Environmental strains displayed antimicrobial resistance patterns comparable to already published data of human and animal isolates. A total of 480 isolates were grouped into 34 different PCR ribotypes. More than half of these (52.9%; 18 of 34) were already described in humans or animals. However, 14 PCR ribotypes were new in our PCR ribotype library and all but one were non-toxigenic. The multilocus sequence analysis of these new PCR ribotypes revealed that non-toxigenic environmental isolates are phylogenetically distinct and belong to three highly divergent clades, two of which have not been described before. Our data suggest that environment is a potential reservoir of genetically diverse population of C. difficile.

Keywords

clostridium difficile;environment;isolation;

Data

Language: English
Year of publishing:
Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
Organization: UM MF - Faculty of Medicine
UDC: 579.852.13
COBISS: 512659256 Link will open in a new window
ISSN: 1932-6203
Views: 893
Downloads: 334
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Other data

Secondary language: Slovenian
Secondary keywords: Clostridium difficile;
URN: URN:SI:UM:
Type (COBISS): Scientific work
Pages: str. 1-12
Volume: ǂVol. ǂ11
Issue: ǂiss. ǂ11
Chronology: 2016
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0167101
ID: 10843430