High prevalence of Clostridium difficile on retail root vegetables, Western Australia.
J Appl Microbiol
; 124(2): 585-590, 2018 Feb.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-29193458
ABSTRACT
AIMS:
The incidence of community-associated Clostridium difficile infection (CA-CDI) in Australia has increased since mid-2011. With reports of clinically important C. difficile strains being isolated from retail foods in Europe and North America, a foodborne source of C. difficile in cases of CA-CDI is a possibility. This study represents the first to investigate the prevalence and genotypes of C. difficile in Australian retail vegetables. METHODS ANDRESULTS:
A total of 300 root vegetables grown in Western Australia (WA) were collected from retail stores and farmers' markets. Three vegetables of the same kind bought from the same store/market were treated as one sample. Selective enrichment culture, toxin profiling and PCR ribotyping were performed. Clostridium difficile was isolated from 30% (30/100) of pooled vegetable samples, 55·6% of organic potatoes, 50% of nonorganic potatoes, 22·2% of organic beetroots, 5·6% of organic onions and 5·3% of organic carrots. Over half (51·2%, 22/43) the isolates were toxigenic. Many of the ribotypes of C. difficile isolated were common among human and Australian animals.CONCLUSIONS:
Clostridium difficile could be found commonly on retail root vegetables of WA. This may be potential sources for CA-CDI. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY This study enhances knowledge of possible sources of C. difficile in the Australian community, outside the hospital setting.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Vegetables
/
Clostridioides difficile
/
Plant Roots
Type of study:
Prevalence_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Oceania
Language:
En
Journal:
J Appl Microbiol
Journal subject:
MICROBIOLOGIA
Year:
2018
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Australia