Toxigenic Clostridium difficile PCR ribotypes in edible marine bivalve molluscs in Italy

Tiziana Troiano; Celine Harmanus; Ingrid M J G Sanders; Vincenzo Pasquale; Stefano Dumontet; Federico Capuano; Vincenza Romano; Ed J Kuijper

doi:10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2015.05.002

Toxigenic Clostridium difficile PCR ribotypes in edible marine bivalve molluscs in Italy

Int J Food Microbiol. 2015 Sep 2:208:30-4. doi: 10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2015.05.002. Epub 2015 May 11.

Authors

Tiziana Troiano¹, Celine Harmanus², Ingrid M J G Sanders², Vincenzo Pasquale³, Stefano Dumontet¹, Federico Capuano⁴, Vincenza Romano¹, Ed J Kuijper²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Science and Technology, Parthenope University of Naples, 80143 Naples, Italy.
² Department of Medical Microbiology, National Reference Laboratory for Clostridium difficile, Leiden University Medical Center, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands.
³ Department of Science and Technology, Parthenope University of Naples, 80143 Naples, Italy. Electronic address: vincenzo.pasquale@uniparthenope.it.
⁴ Department of Food Inspection, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale per il Mezzogiorno di Portici, 80055 Portici (Naples), Italy.

PMID: 26022983
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2015.05.002

Abstract

Even though food of animal sources and different foodstuffs are well known to be potentially carrier of Clostridium difficile, few data are available on the occurrence of C. difficile in seafood. This work investigated the occurrence of C. difficile in edible bivalve molluscs in southern Italy. Out of the 925 investigated samples, 3.9% contained C. difficile. Eighteen strains harboured both genes for toxins A and B whereas 1 only had toxin B gene. Binary toxin genes were found in 22.2% of the isolates. The most frequently ribotypes found were 078/126 (22.2%), 010 (19.4%), and 001 (8.3%). All isolates were susceptible to metronidazole, vancomycin, fidaxomicin, and to the new semisynthetic thiopeptide antibiotic LFF571, whereas 19.4% of them were resistant to moxifloxacin, 30.5% to clindamycin, 38.8% to erythromycin, and 100% to ciprofloxacin. This study points out that edible molluscs could be a potential source of toxigenic C. difficile ribotypes and a potential risk for human health.

Keywords: Clostridium difficile; Edible bivalve mollusc; Fidaxomicin; LFF571.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology
Bacterial Toxins / genetics
Bivalvia / microbiology*
Clostridioides difficile / drug effects
Clostridioides difficile / genetics*
Clostridioides difficile / isolation & purification
Drug Resistance, Bacterial
Food Microbiology*
Italy
Microbial Sensitivity Tests
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Ribotyping

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Bacterial Toxins