A Role for Tetracycline Selection in Recent Evolution of Agriculture-Associated <i>Clostridium difficile</i> PCR Ribotype 078.

ABSTRACT: The increasing clinical importance of human infections (frequently severe) caused by Clostridium difficile PCR ribotype 078 (RT078) was first reported in 2008. The severity of symptoms (mortality of ≤30%) and the higher proportion of infections among community and younger patients raised concerns. Farm animals, especially pigs, have been identified as RT078 reservoirs. We aimed to understand the recent changes in RT078 epidemiology by investigating a possible role for antimicrobial selection in its recent evolutionary history. Phylogenetic analysis of international RT078 genomes (isolates from 2006 to 2014, n = 400), using time-scaled, recombination-corrected, maximum likelihood phylogenies, revealed several recent clonal expansions. A common ancestor of each expansion had in

SUBMITTER: Dingle KE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6414706 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature