Biogeographic distribution and molecular epidemiology of Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile in Western Australian soils

Karla Cautivo-Reyes; Daniel R Knight; Deborah Bowie; Benjamin Moreira-Grez; Andrew S Whiteley; Thomas V Riley

doi:10.1128/aem.00379-23

Biogeographic distribution and molecular epidemiology of Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile in Western Australian soils

Appl Environ Microbiol. 2023 Oct 31;89(10):e0037923. doi: 10.1128/aem.00379-23. Epub 2023 Oct 12.

Authors

Karla Cautivo-Reyes¹, Daniel R Knight^{2

3}, Deborah Bowie⁴, Benjamin Moreira-Grez⁴, Andrew S Whiteley⁵, Thomas V Riley^{1

2

3

6}

Affiliations

¹ Biosecurity and One Health Research Center, Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, Western Australia, Australia.
² School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Western Australia, Australia.
³ Department of Microbiology, PathWest Laboratory Medicine, Queen Elizabeth II Medical Center, Western Australia, Australia.
⁴ School of Agriculture and Environment Science, The University of Western Australia, Western Australia, Australia.
⁵ Land and Water, CSIRO, Western Australia, Australia.
⁶ School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Western Australia, Australia.

Abstract

Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile is a leading cause of infectious diarrhea in humans and production animals and can be found in a variety of environmental sources. The prevalence and diversity of multi-locus sequence type clade 5 strains of C. difficile in Australian production animals suggest Australia might be the ancestral home of this lineage of One Health importance. To better understand the role of the environment in the colonization of humans and animals in Australia, it is important to investigate these endemic sources. This study describes the prevalence, molecular epidemiology, and biogeographic distribution of C. difficile in soils of Western Australia. A total of 321 soil samples from remote geographical locations across the eight health regions of Western Australia were screened for C. difficile and isolates characterized by PCR ribotyping and toxin gene profiling. C. difficile was isolated from 31.15% of samples, with the highest prevalence in the Perth Metropolitan Health Region (49.25%, n = 33/67). Overall, 52 different strains [PCR ribotypes (RTs)] were identified, with 14 being novel, and 38% (38/100) of isolates being toxigenic, the most common of which was RT014/020. Five unique novel isolates showed characteristics similar to C. difficile clade 5. This is the first study of C. difficile isolated from soils in Australia. The high prevalence and heterogeneity of C. difficile strains recovered suggest that soils play a role in the survival and environmental dissemination of this organism, and potentially its transmission among native wildlife and production animals, and in community and hospital settings.IMPORTANCEClostridium difficile is a pathogen of One Health importance. To better understand the role of the environment in human and animal colonization/infection, it is critical that autochthonous reservoirs/sources of C. difficile be investigated. This is the first study of C. difficile isolated from soils of Western Australia (WA). Here, the ecology of C. difficile in WA is described by examining the geographic distribution, molecular epidemiology, and diversity of C. difficile isolated from soils across WA.

Keywords: Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile; Western Australia; ecology; molecular epidemiology; soils.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Animals
Australia / epidemiology
Clostridioides / genetics
Clostridioides difficile*
Clostridium / genetics
Clostridium Infections* / epidemiology
Clostridium Infections* / veterinary
Humans
Molecular Epidemiology
Ribotyping