scholarly journals Genomic diversity of Escherichia coli from healthy children in rural Gambia

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e10572
Author(s):  
Ebenezer Foster-Nyarko ◽  
Nabil-Fareed Alikhan ◽  
Usman N. Ikumapayi ◽  
Golam Sarwar ◽  
Catherine Okoi ◽  
...  

Little is known about the genomic diversity of Escherichia coli in healthy children from sub-Saharan Africa, even though this is pertinent to understanding bacterial evolution and ecology and their role in infection. We isolated and whole-genome sequenced up to five colonies of faecal E. coli from 66 asymptomatic children aged three-to-five years in rural Gambia (n = 88 isolates from 21 positive stools). We identified 56 genotypes, with an average of 2.7 genotypes per host. These were spread over 37 seven-allele sequence types and the E. coli phylogroups A, B1, B2, C, D, E, F and Escherichia cryptic clade I. Immigration events accounted for three-quarters of the diversity within our study population, while one-quarter of variants appeared to have arisen from within-host evolution. Several isolates encode putative virulence factors commonly found in Enteropathogenic and Enteroaggregative E. coli, and 53% of the isolates encode resistance to three or more classes of antimicrobials. Thus, resident E. coli in these children may constitute reservoirs of virulence- and resistance-associated genes. Moreover, several study strains were closely related to isolates that caused disease in humans or originated from livestock. Our results suggest that within-host evolution plays a minor role in the generation of diversity compared to independent immigration and the establishment of strains among our study population. Also, this study adds significantly to the number of commensal E. coli genomes, a group that has been traditionally underrepresented in the sequencing of this species.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebenezer Foster-Nyarko ◽  
Nabil-Fareed Alikhan ◽  
Usman Nurudeen Ikumapayi ◽  
Sarwar Golam ◽  
M Jahangir Hossain ◽  
...  

AbstractLittle is known about the genomic diversity of Escherichia coli in healthy children from sub-Saharan Africa, even though this is pertinent to understanding bacterial evolution and ecology and their role in infection. We isolated and whole-genome sequenced up to five colonies of faecal E. coli from 66 asymptomatic children aged three-to-five years in rural Gambia (n=88 isolates from 21 positive stools). We identified 56 genotypes, with an average of 2.7 genotypes per host. These were spread over 37 seven-allele sequence types and the E. coli phylogroups A, B1, B2, C, D, E, F and Escherichia cryptic clade I. Immigration events accounted for three-quarters of the diversity within our study population, while one-quarter of variants appeared to have arisen from within-host evolution. Several study strains were closely related to isolates that caused disease in humans or originated from livestock. Our results suggest that within-host evolution plays a minor role in the generation of diversity than independent immigration and the establishment of strains among our study population. Also, this study adds significantly to the number of commensal E. coli genomes, a group that has been traditionally underrepresented in the sequencing of this species.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebenezer Foster-Nyarko ◽  
Nabil-Fareed Alikhan ◽  
Anuradha Ravi ◽  
Nicholas M. Thomson ◽  
Sheikh Jarju ◽  
...  

AbstractChickens and guinea fowl are commonly reared in Gambian homes as affordable sources of protein. Using standard microbiological techniques, we obtained 68 caecal isolates of Escherichia coli from ten chickens and nine guinea fowl in rural Gambia. After Illumina whole-genome sequencing, 28 sequence types were detected in the isolates (four of them novel), of which ST155 was the most common (22/68, 32%). These strains span four of the eight main phylogroups of E. coli, with phylogroups B1 and A being most prevalent. Nearly a third of the isolates harboured at least one antimicrobial resistance gene, while most of the ST155 isolates (14/22, 64%) encoded resistance to ≥3 classes of clinically relevant antibiotics, as well as putative virulence factors, suggesting pathogenic potential in humans. Furthermore, hierarchical clustering revealed that several Gambian poultry strains were closely related to isolates from humans. Although the ST155 lineage is common in poultry from Africa and South America, the Gambian ST155 isolates belong to a unique cgMLST cluster comprised of closely related (38-39 alleles differences) isolates from poultry and livestock from sub-Saharan Africa—suggesting that strains can be exchanged between poultry and livestock in this setting. Continued surveillance of E. coli and other potential pathogens in rural backyard poultry from sub-Saharan Africa is warranted.Author notesAll supporting data and protocols have been provided within the article or as supplementary data files. Eleven supplementary figures and eight supplementary files are available with the online version of this article.Data summaryThe genomic assemblies for the isolates reported here are available for download from EnteroBase (http://enterobase.warwick.ac.uk/species/index/ecoli) and the EnteroBase assembly barcodes are provided in File S2.Sequences have been deposited in the NCBI SRA, under the BioProject ID: PRJNA616250 and accession numbers SAMN14485281 to SAMN14485348 (File S2). Assemblies have been deposited in GenBank under the BioProject ID: PRJNA616250 and accession numbers CP053258 and CP053259.Impact statementDomestic birds play a crucial role in human society, in particular contributing to food security in low-income countries. Many households in Sub-Saharan Africa rear free-range chickens and guinea fowl, which are often left to scavenge for feed in and around the family compound, where they are frequently exposed to humans, other animals and the environment. Such proximity between backyard poultry and humans is likely to facilitate transmission of pathogens such as Escherichia coli or antimicrobial resistance between the two host species. Little is known about the population structure of E. coli in rural chickens and guinea fowl, although this information is needed to contextualise the potential risks of transmission of bacterial strains between humans and rural backyard poultry. Thus, we sought to investigate the genomic diversity of E. coli in backyard poultry from rural Gambia.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebenezer Foster-Nyarko ◽  
Nabil-Fareed Alikhan ◽  
Anuradha Ravi ◽  
Nicholas M. Thomson ◽  
Sheikh Jarju ◽  
...  

Chickens and guinea fowl are commonly reared in Gambian homes as affordable sources of protein. Using standard microbiological techniques, we obtained 68 caecal isolates of Escherichia coli from 10 chickens and 9 guinea fowl in rural Gambia. After Illumina whole-genome sequencing, 28 sequence types were detected in the isolates (4 of them novel), of which ST155 was the most common (22/68, 32 %). These strains span four of the eight main phylogroups of E. coli, with phylogroups B1 and A being most prevalent. Nearly a third of the isolates harboured at least one antimicrobial resistance gene, while most of the ST155 isolates (14/22, 64 %) encoded resistance to ≥3 classes of clinically relevant antibiotics, as well as putative virulence factors, suggesting pathogenic potential in humans. Furthermore, hierarchical clustering revealed that several Gambian poultry strains were closely related to isolates from humans. Although the ST155 lineage is common in poultry from Africa and South America, the Gambian ST155 isolates belong to a unique cgMLST cluster comprising closely related (38–39 alleles differences) isolates from poultry and livestock from sub-Saharan Africa – suggesting that strains can be exchanged between poultry and livestock in this setting. Continued surveillance of E. coli and other potential pathogens in rural backyard poultry from sub-Saharan Africa is warranted.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (7A) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebenezer Foster-Nyarko ◽  
Nabil-Fareed Alikhan ◽  
Anuradha Ravi ◽  
Nicholas Thomson ◽  
Sheikh Jarju ◽  
...  

Chickens and guinea fowl are commonly reared in Gambian homes as affordable sources of protein. Using standard microbiological techniques, we obtained 68 caecal isolates of Escherichia coli from ten chickens and nine guinea fowl in rural Gambia. After Illumina whole-genome sequencing, 28 sequence types were detected in the isolates (four of them novel), of which ST155 was the most common (22/68, 32%). These strains span four of the eight main phylogroups of E. coli, with phylogroups B1 and A being most prevalent. Nearly a third of the isolates harboured at least one antimicrobial resistance gene, while most of the ST155 isolates (14/22, 64%) encoded resistance to ≥3 classes of clinically relevant antibiotics, as well as putative virulence factors, suggesting pathogenic potential in humans. Furthermore, hierarchical clustering revealed that several Gambian poultry strains were closely related to isolates from humans. Although the ST155 lineage is common in poultry from Africa and South America, the Gambian ST155 isolates sit within a tight genomic cluster (100 alleles difference) of strains from poultry and livestock in sub-Saharan Africa (the Gambia, Uganda and Kenya). Continued surveillance of E. coli and other potential pathogens in rural backyard poultry from sub-Saharan Africa is warranted.


2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (11) ◽  
pp. 817-842 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iruka N Okeke

Diarrhea is a leading cause of illness and death, particularly in developing countries.  Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli, enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), enteroinvasive E. coli, enterohemorrhaghic E. coli (EHEC), enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) and diffusely adherent E. coli (DAEC) have been associated with diarrheal disease in different parts of Africa, particularly among young children, HIV-positive individuals, and visitors from abroad.  Each of these E. coli pathotypes uses distinct mechanisms, which are only partially understood, to colonize infected hosts and produce diarrhea.  All known diarrheagenic E. coli pathotypes have been reported from diverse locations within Africa but the true burden from these pathogens is unknown because very few studies seeking these organisms with discriminatory methodology have been performed.  Recent reports implicate ETEC and EAEC in a considerable proportion of childhood and travellers' diarrheas and suggest that some sub-types of these categories may have greater epidemiological significance than others.  The significant contribution of EHEC to bloody diarrhea and hemolytic uremic syndrome is underappreciated because diagnostic capacity for this pathotype is generally inferior to that for confounders such as Shigella and Entamoeba.   Recent studies in Africa have revealed the worrisome emergence of antimicrobial resistance and high asymptomatic carriage rates for diarrheagenic E. coli but bacterial and host factors that predispose to disease, as well as non-human reservoirs, are largely unknown.  Future diarrheal disease research needs to focus on broadening the repertoire of pathogens sought in epidemiological surveys to include multiple categories of diarrheagenic E. coli while building capacity to detect these pathogens in local reference laboratories.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose F. Delgado-Blas ◽  
Cristina M. Ovejero ◽  
Sophia David ◽  
Natalia Montero ◽  
William Calero-Caceres ◽  
...  

AbstractAquatic environments are key niches for the emergence, evolution and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance. However, the population diversity and the genetic elements that drive the dynamics of resistant bacteria in different aquatic environments are still largely unknown. The aim of this study was to understand the population genomics and evolutionary events of Escherichia coli resistant to clinically important antibiotics including aminoglycosides, in anthropogenic and natural water ecosystems. Here we show that less different E. coli sequence types (STs) are identified in wastewater than in rivers, albeit more resistant to antibiotics, and with significantly more plasmids/cell (6.36 vs 3.72). However, the genomic diversity within E. coli STs in both aquatic environments is similar. Wastewater environments favor the selection of conserved chromosomal structures associated with diverse flexible plasmids, unraveling promiscuous interplasmidic resistance genes flux. On the contrary, the key driver for river E. coli adaptation is a mutable chromosome along with few plasmid types shared between diverse STs harboring a limited resistance gene content.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (50) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayanthi Gangiredla ◽  
Mark K. Mammel ◽  
Tammy J. Barnaba ◽  
Carmen Tartera ◽  
Solomon T. Gebru ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Pathogenic and nonpathogenic Escherichia coli strains present a vast genomic diversity. We report the genome sequences of 2,244 E. coli isolates from multiple animal and environmental sources. Their phylogenetic relationships and potential risk to human health were examined.


2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (07) ◽  
pp. 572-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willie Kipkemboi Sang ◽  
Valerie Oundo ◽  
David Schnabel

Introduction: Diarrhoea is one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality among children in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of the main causes of hospital admissions in rural areas of Kenya. In Kenya, antimicrobial resistance surveillance has been conducted only at the institutional levels, with limited sharing of information and analysis of data. As a result, the actual scale of regional or national antimicrobial drug resistance is not well defined. Methodology: Stool samples were collected between 1 October 2007 and 30 September 2008 from a total of 651 outpatients with diarrhoea who were under five years of age in four provinces of Kenya.  Conventional, biochemical methods, multiplex PCR and antimicrobial susceptibility were conducted to identify the bacterial causes and virulence factors in the isolates, respectively.  Results: Of the 651 patients screened, we identified the causes of 115 cases (17.7%) as follows: Pathogenic E. coli (11.2%) [enteroaggregative (8.9%), enterotoxigenic (1.2%), enteroinvasive (0.6%), shigatoxigenic (0.5%)], Salmonella (3.5%), Shigella (2%) and Vibrio cholera O1 (0.7%). The highest levels of resistance among the E. coli isolates were observed in ampicillin and trimethoprim/sulphamethoxazole each at 95% followed by tetracycline at 81%. Shigella isolate levels of resistance ranged from 80% to 100% for ampicillin, tetracycline and trimethoprim/sulphamethoxazole. Conclusion: The highest prevalence of antimicrobial resistance was to ampicillin followed by trimethoprim/sulphamethoxazole and tetracycline. Though still at low levels, the major concern from our findings is the emerging resistance of enteric pathogens that was observed to quinolones (ciprofloxacin, nalidixic acid, norfloxacin) and gentamycin.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew S. Bramble ◽  
Neerja Vashist ◽  
Arthur Ko ◽  
Sambhawa Priya ◽  
Céleste Musasa ◽  
...  

AbstractKonzo, a distinct upper motor neuron disease associated with a cyanogenic diet and chronic malnutrition, predominately affects children and women of childbearing age in sub-Saharan Africa. While the exact biological mechanisms that cause this disease have largely remained elusive, host-genetics and environmental components such as the gut microbiome have been implicated. Using a large study population of 180 individuals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where konzo is most frequent, we investigate how the structure of the gut microbiome varied across geographical contexts, as well as provide the first insight into the gut flora of children affected with this debilitating disease using shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Our findings indicate that the gut microbiome structure is highly variable depending on region of sampling, but most interestingly, we identify unique enrichments of bacterial species and functional pathways that potentially modulate the susceptibility of konzo in prone regions of the Congo.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroki Kitaoka ◽  
Jun Inatomi ◽  
Hayato Chikai ◽  
Keiko Watanabe ◽  
Tadayuki Kumagai ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Renal abscess in children is a rare and severe form of infectious kidney disease that is responsible for several serious complications. In this report, we describe a previously healthy 5-year-old girl with a renal abscess caused by extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli (E. coli), which led to bacteremia and renal scarring. Case presentation The patient presented to our department with high fever, headache, vomiting for 2 days and high inflammatory response. We diagnosed her with a urinary tract infection and initiated treatment with ampicillin and cefotaxime. Gram-negative bacilli bacteremia was noted on day 3. On day 4, her fever persisted, and a computed tomography (CT) scan revealed a renal abscess in the left kidney. After identifying the bacteria as ESBL-producing E. coli from the blood culture, we switched to the antibiotic meropenem and continued treatment for 3 weeks. The renal abscess was not drained. Although the renal abscess was successfully treated and it disappeared, a low-density area remained in same lesion on subsequent CT scans and a dimercaptosuccinic acid renal scan performed 4 months after onset revealed renal scarring. Conclusion Given the increasing prevalence of ESBL-producing microorganisms, clinicians should be aware of the possibility of renal abscesses caused by community-acquired ESBL-producing organisms even in previously healthy children. Once a renal abscess is suspected, early diagnosis and management are important for reducing the risk of life-threating complications and renal scarring.


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