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Are animals a source of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia in human infections? Contributions of a nationwide molecular study

European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases volume 37, pages 1039–1045 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (Sm) is an archetypal environmental opportunistic bacterium responsible for health care-associated infections. The role of animals in human Sm infections is unknown. This study aims to reveal the genetic and phylogenetic relationships between pathogenic strains of Sm, both animal and human, and identify a putative role for animals as a reservoir in human infection. We phenotypically and genotypically characterized 61 Sm strains responsible for animal infections (mainly respiratory tract infections in horses) from a French nationwide veterinary laboratory network. We tested antimicrobial susceptibility and performed MLST and genogrouping using the concatenation of the seven housekeeping genes from the original MLST scheme. Excluding the eight untypeable strains owing to the lack of gene amplification, only 10 out of the 53 strains yielded a known ST (ST5, ST39, ST162, ST8, ST27, ST126, ST131). The genogroup distribution highlighted not only genogroups (genogroups 5 and 9) comprised exclusively of animal strains but also genogroups shared by human and animal strains. Interestingly, these shared genogroups were primarily groups 2 and 6, which have previously been identified as the two most frequent genogroups among human-pathogenic Sm strains, especially among respiratory pathogens. The antimicrobial susceptibility testing underlined the presence of acquired resistance: 18.8 and 7.5% of the tested isolates were resistant to the sulfonamide-trimethoprim combination and ciprofloxacin, respectively. Animal strains of Sm shared phylogenetic traits with some of the most successful human strains. The exact relationships between the human and animal strains, and the genetic support of these common traits, need to be determined.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the veterinary laboratories participating to the RESAPATH network and Professor Henri-Jean Boulouis (Ecole nationale vétérinaire d’Alfort, France).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Bacteriology and Infection Control, Department of Microbiology, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, University Hospital Henri Mondor, 94000, Créteil, France

    Aurélie Jayol, Camille Corlouer, Marine Desroches & Jean-Winoc Decousser

  2. Emerging Antibiotic Resistance Unit, Medical and Molecular Microbiology, Department of Medicine, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Aurélie Jayol

  3. INSERM European Unit (LEA-IAME Paris, France), University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Aurélie Jayol

  4. Unité Antibiorésistance et Virulence Bactériennes, ANSES, Lyon, France

    Marisa Haenni & Jean-Yves Madec

  5. Next Generation Sequencing Platform, University Hospital Henri Mondor, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Créteil, France

    Mélanie Darty

  6. Laboratoire Labeo Frank Duncombe, Caen, France

    Karine Maillard

  7. Department of Bacteriology, Archet 2 Hospital, Nice Academic Hospital, Nice, France

    Brigitte Lamy

  8. INSERM U1065, C3M, Team 6, Nice, France

    Brigitte Lamy

  9. Infection Control Department, Montpellier University Hospital, Montpellier, France

    Estelle Jumas-Bilak

  10. UMR5569 HydroSciences Montpellier, Equipe «Pathogènes Hydriques Santé Environnements», Faculté de Pharmacie, 15 Avenue Charles Flahault BP 14491 34093 Montpellier UMR 5119 ECOSYM, Equipe Pathogènes et Environnements, U.F.R. des Sciences Pharmaceutiques et Biologiques, Université Montpellier 1, Montpellier, France

    Estelle Jumas-Bilak

  11. EA 7380 Dynamyc Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC), Ecole nationale vétérinaire d’Alfort (EnvA), Faculté de Médecine de Créteil, 8 rue du Général Sarrail, 94010, Créteil, France

    Jean-Winoc Decousser

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  1. Aurélie Jayol
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  2. Camille Corlouer
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  3. Marisa Haenni
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  4. Mélanie Darty
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  5. Karine Maillard
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  6. Marine Desroches
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  7. Brigitte Lamy
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  8. Estelle Jumas-Bilak
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  9. Jean-Yves Madec
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  10. Jean-Winoc Decousser
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Correspondence to Jean-Winoc Decousser.

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Additional information

DNA Sequences: all new alleles have been deposed on the Stenotrophomonas maltophilia MLST website (https://pubmlst.org/smaltophilia/)

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Jayol, A., Corlouer, C., Haenni, M. et al. Are animals a source of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia in human infections? Contributions of a nationwide molecular study. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 37, 1039–1045 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-018-3203-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-018-3203-0

Keywords

  • Genogroup
  • Animal Strains
  • Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST)
  • Human Strains
  • Trimethoprim-sulfonamide Combinations