title: First Multi-Year Retrospective Study onVibrio ParhaemolyticusandVibrio VulnificusPrevalence inRuditapes PhilippinarumHarvested in Sacca Di Goro, Italy.
abstract: The present work describes a retrospective study aiming to verify a possible correlation between the environmental conditions (temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen), the abundance ofVibriospp., and the prevalence ofV. parahaemolyticusandV. vulnificusin the Manila clamR. philippinarumharvested in Sacca di Goro, Emilia-Romagna Region, Northern Italy. On the whole, 104 samples, collected in the period 2007-2015 and submitted to microbiological analyses (isolation and genotyping), have been reconsidered forVibriospp. load,V. parahaemolyticusprevalence (total, gene marker toxRP; potentially pathogenic, gene markerstdhand/ortrh)andV. vulnificusprevalence (total, gene markersvvhA andhsp)together with environmental data obtained from the monitoring activity of the Emilia-Romagna Regional Agency for the Prevention, the Environment and the Energy. Environmental data have been processed to calculate the median of each, assessing the seasonal range of seawater temperature (warmer months: April-October, T°C >16.45°C; cooler months November-March, T°C <16.45°C), salinity (<or>27 psu), and dissolved oxygen (< or >8.2 mg/L). TotalV. vulnificus, total and potentially pathogenicV. parahaemolyticuswere present respectively in the 11.5, 29.8 and 6.7% of the samples. TheVibriospp. load (mean value of 4.69±0.65 log10colony forming unit g-1) and the prevalence of potentially pathogenicV. parahaemolyticus, were not significantly correlated to the environmental conditions (P>0.05), whereas the prevalence of both totalV. vulnificusand totalV. parahaemolyticuswas significantly higher in the warmer period (P<0.05), without correlation with salinity and dissolved oxygen values (P>0.05).
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna , Ozzano dell'Emilia (BO) Italy.
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Serratore
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna , Ozzano dell'Emilia (BO) Italy.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ostanello
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna , Ozzano dell'Emilia (BO) Italy.
authors.forename: Pier Luca
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Passalacqua
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna , Ozzano dell'Emilia (BO) Italy.
authors.forename: Emanuele
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zavatta
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna , Ozzano dell'Emilia (BO) Italy.
authors.forename: Giorgia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bignami
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna , Ozzano dell'Emilia (BO) Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Serraino
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna , Ozzano dell'Emilia (BO) Italy.
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Giacometti
keywords: Environmental conditions; Italy; Ruditapes philippinarum; Vibrio parahaemolyticus; Vibrio vulnificus