Research Publications (Food Safety)

The microaerophilic pathogen Campylobacter jejuni is a leading bacterial cause of human gastroenteritis in developed countries. Even though it has a reputation as a fastidious organism, C. jejuni is widespread and can be easily isolated from various animals, food, and environmental sources. It is suggested that an ability to form biofilms is probably necessary for the survival of C. jejuni under harsh environmental conditions.

Campylobacter infections are the leading cause of bacterial gastroenteritis. In Europe, over 246,000 cases are confirmed annually. Infections are often transmitted via contaminated food, such as poultry products, but water may be the source of infection as well. The aim of this study was to characterise a selection of Campylobacter jejuni human isolates, together with a water isolate, from a waterborne outbreak in Norway in 2019, including human isolates from early, mid-, and late epidemic.

The formation of persister cells is one mechanism by which bacteria can survive exposure to environmental stresses. We show that Campylobacter jejuni 11168H forms persister cells at a frequency of 10−3 after exposure to 100 × MIC of penicillin G for 24 h. Staining the cell population with a redox sensitive fluorescent dye revealed that penicillin G treatment resulted in the appearance of a population of cells with increased fluorescence.

The present study investigated the genomic constitution and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of 238 Campylobacter from pigs and wild boars in Italy between 2012 and 2019. Campylobacter strains were genotyped using multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and whole genome MLST (wgMLST), screened for antimicrobial resistance genes, and tested for phenotypic susceptibility to six different antibiotics. C. coli was detected in 98.31% and 91.66% of pigs and wild boars, while C.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus non-toxigenic strains are responsible for about 10% of acute gastroenteritis associated with this species, suggesting they harbor unique virulence factors. Zonula occludens toxin (Zot), firstly described in Vibrio cholerae, is a secreted toxin that increases intestinal permeability. Recently, we identified Zot-encoding genes in the genomes of highly cytotoxic Chilean V. parahaemolyticus strains, including the non-toxigenic clinical strain PMC53.7.

Rapid developments in the field of whole genome sequencing (WGS) make in silico antimicrobial resistance (AMR) a target within reach. Campylobacter jejuni is a leading cause of foodborne infections in Israel with increasing rates of resistance. We applied WGS analysis to study the prevalence and genetic basis of AMR in 263 C. jejuni human and veterinary representative isolates retrieved from a national collection during 2003–2012.

Sequencing studies have shown that optimal vaginal microbiota (VMB) are lactobacilli-dominated and that anaerobes associated with bacterial vaginosis (BV-anaerobes) are commonly present. However, they overlooked a less prevalent but more pathogenic group of vaginal bacteria: the pathobionts that cause maternal and neonatal infections and pelvic inflammatory disease.

Campylobacter jejuni outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) contain numerous virulence-associated proteins including the cytolethal distending toxin and three serine proteases. As C. jejuni lacks the classical virulence-associated secretion systems of other enteric pathogens that deliver effectors directly into target cells, OMVs may have a particularly important role in virulence. C.

Anna-Maria Schmidt, Ulrike Escher, Soraya Mousavi, Manja Boehm, Steffen Backert, Stefan Bereswill, Markus M. Heimesaat

Muhammad A. B. Shabbir, Yanping Tang, Zihui Xu, Mingyue Lin, Guyue Cheng, Menghong Dai, Xu Wang, Zhengli Liu, Zonghui Yuan, Haihong Hao

Fang Liu, Rena Ma, Yiming Wang, Li Zhang

Liljana Petrovska, Yue Tang, Melissa J. Jansen van Rensburg, Shaun Cawthraw, Javier Nunez, Samuel K. Sheppard, Richard J. Ellis, Adrian M. Whatmore, Tim R. Crawshaw, Richard M. Irvine

Liljana Petrovska, Yue Tang, Melissa J. Jansen van Rensburg, Shaun Cawthraw, Javier Nunez, Samuel K. Sheppard, Richard J. Ellis, Adrian M. Whatmore, Tim R. Crawshaw, Richard M. Irvine

Markus M. Heimesaat, Ursula Grundmann, Marie E. Alutis, André Fischer, Stefan Bereswill

Nieves Ayllón, Ángeles Jiménez-Marín, Héctor Argüello, Sara Zaldívar-López, Margarita Villar, Carmen Aguilar, Angela Moreno, José De La Fuente, Juan J. Garrido

Wageha A. Awad, Evelyne Mann, Monika Dzieciol, Claudia Hess, Stephan Schmitz-Esser, Martin Wagner, Michael Hess