title: Investigation of Clostridium difficile interspecies relatedness using multilocus sequence typing, multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis and antimicrobial susceptibility testing.
abstract: Multilocus sequence typing (MLST), multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis (MLVA) and antimicrobial susceptibility were performed on 37 animal and human C. difficile isolates belonging to 15 different PCR-ribotypes in order to investigate the relatedness of human and animal isolates and to identify possible transmission routes. MLVA identified a total of 21 different types while MLST only distinguished 12 types. Identical C. difficile strains were detected in the same animal species for PCR-ribotypes 014, 078, UCL 16U and UCL 36, irrespective of their origin or the isolation date. Non clonal strains were found among different hosts; however, a high genetic association between pig and cattle isolates belonging to PCR-ribotype 078 was revealed. MLVA also showed genetic differences that clearly distinguished human from animal strains. For a given PCR-ribotype, human and animal strains presented a similar susceptibility to the antimicrobials tested. All strains were susceptible to vancomycin, metronidazole, chloramphenicol and rifampicin, while PCR-ribotypes 078, UCL 5a, UCL 36 and UCL 103 were associated with erythromycin resistance. The data suggest a wide dissemination of clones at hospitals and breeding-farms or a contamination at the slaughterhouse, but less probability of interspecies transmission. However, further highly discriminatory genotyping methods are necessary to elucidate interspecies and zoonotic transmission of C. difficile.
authors.affiliation: Food Science Department, FARAH, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, Boulevard de Colonster 20, 4100 Liège, Belgium. Electronic address: c.rodriguez@ulg.ac.be.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Unit, Catholic University of Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate B1.54.01, 1200 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Avesani
authors.affiliation: Food Science Department, FARAH, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, Boulevard de Colonster 20, 4100 Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Taminiau
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Unit, Catholic University of Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate B1.54.01, 1200 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Van Broeck
authors.affiliation: Food Science Department, FARAH, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, Boulevard de Colonster 20, 4100 Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Brévers
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Unit, Catholic University of Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate B1.54.01, 1200 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Delmée
authors.affiliation: Food Science Department, FARAH, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, Boulevard de Colonster 20, 4100 Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Daube
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D010802:Phylogeny; D021521:Ribotyping; D013045:Species Specificity; D013552:Swine
keywords: Animals; Clostridium difficile; Humans; Multilocus sequence typing; Multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis