Strains Associated with Two 2020 Welder Anthrax Cases in the United States Belong to Separate Lineages within Bacillus cereus sensu lato.

ABSTRACT: Anthrax-causing members of Bacillus cereus sensu lato (s.l.) pose a serious threat to public health. While most anthrax-causing strains resemble B. anthracis phenotypically, rare cases of anthrax-like illness caused by strains resembling "B. cereus" have been reported. Here, whole-genome sequencing was used to characterize three B. cereus s.l. isolates associated with two 2020 welder anthrax cases in the United States, which resembled "B. cereus" phenotypically. Comparison of the three genomes sequenced here to all publicly available, high-quality B. cereus s.l. genomes (n = 2890 total genomes) demonstrated that genomes associated with each case effectively belonged to separate species at the conventional 95% average nucleotide identi

SUBMITTER: Carroll LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9413466 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature