title: Lagooning of wastewaters favors dissemination of clinically relevant Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
abstract: The significance of wastewater treatment lagoons (WWTLs) as point sources of clinically relevant Pseudomonas aeruginosa that can disseminate through rural and peri-urban catchments was investigated. A panel of P. aeruginosa strains collected over three years from WWTLs and community-acquired infections was compared by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) DNA fingerprinting and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Forty-four distantly related PFGE profiles and four clonal complexes were found among the WWTL strains analyzed. Some genotypes were repeatedly detected from different parts of WWTLs, including the influent, suggesting an ability to migrate and persist over time. MLST showed all investigated lineages to match sequence types described in other countries and strains from major clinical clones such as PA14 of ST253 and "C" of ST17 were observed. Some of these genotypes matched isolates from community-acquired infections recorded in the WWTL geographic area. Most WWTL strains harbored the main P. aeruginosa virulence genes; 13% harbored exoU-encoded cytoxins, but on at least six different genomic islands, with some of these showing signs of genomic instability. P. aeruginosa appeared to be highly successful opportunistic colonizers of WWTLs. Lagooning of wastewaters was found to favor dissemination of clinically relevant P. aeruginosa among peri-urban watersheds.
authors.affiliation: Université de Lyon, Lyon, France; Research Group on Bacterial Opportunistic Pathogens and Environment, UMR5557 Ecologie Microbienne, Doua Campus, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, VetAgro Sup, 69622 Villeurbanne, France.
authors.forename: Stéphanie M-C
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Petit
authors.forename: Raphaël
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lavenir
authors.forename: Céline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Colinon-Dupuich
authors.forename: Amine M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Boukerb
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cholley
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Bertrand
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Freney
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Doléans-Jordheim
authors.forename: Sylvie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nazaret
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Laurent
authors.forename: Benoit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cournoyer
mesh_terms: D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D005838:Genotype; D058889:Molecular Typing; D011552:Pseudomonas Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000235:genetics; D062065:Wastewater / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D037521:Virulence Factors; D062065:Wastewater
keywords: Epidemic clone; Health hazard; Population dynamics; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Virulence; Wastewaters