Australian human and parrot Chlamydia psittaci strains cluster within the highly virulent 6BC clade of this important zoonotic pathogen.

ABSTRACT: Chlamydia psittaci is an avian pathogen and zoonotic agent of atypical pneumonia. The most pathogenic C. psittaci strains cluster into the 6BC clade, predicted to have recently emerged globally. Exposure to infected parrots is a risk factor with limited evidence also of an indirect exposure risk. Genome sequencing was performed on six Australian human and a single avian C. psittaci strain isolated over a 9 year period. Only one of the five human patients had explicit psittacine contact. Genomics analyses revealed that the Australian C. psittaci strains are remarkably similar, clustering tightly within the C. psittaci 6BC clade suggested to have been disseminated by South America parrot importation. Molecular clock analysis using the newly sequenced C. psittaci genomes predicted the emergen

SUBMITTER: Branley J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4973220 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature