Phylogenomic analysis of gastroenteritis-associated <i>Clostridium perfringens</i> in England and Wales over a 7-year period indicates distribution of clonal toxigenic strains in multiple outbreaks and extensive involvement of enterotoxin-encoding (CPE) plasmids.

ABSTRACT: Clostridium perfringens is a major enteric pathogen known to cause gastroenteritis in human adults. Although major outbreak cases are frequently reported, only limited whole-genome sequencing (WGS) based studies have been performed to understand the genomic epidemiology and virulence gene content of outbreak-associated C. perfringens strains. We performed phylogenomic analysis on 109 C. perfringens isolates (human and food) obtained from disease cases in England and Wales between 2011 and 2017. Initial findings highlighted the enhanced discriminatory power of WGS in profiling outbreak C. perfringens strains, when compared to the current Public Health England referencing laboratory technique of fluorescent amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis. F

SUBMITTER: Kiu R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6861862 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature