The life cycle of Vibrio parahaemolyticus has been conventionally associated with estuarine areas characterized by moderate salinity and warm seawater temperatures. Recent evidence suggests that the distribution and population dynamics of V. parahaemolyticus may be shaped by the existence of an oceanic transport of communities of this organism mediated by zooplankton. To evaluate this possibility, the presence of V. parahaemolyticus in the water column of offshore areas of Galicia was investigated by PCR monthly over an 18-month period. Analysis of zooplankton and seawater showed that the occurrence of V. parahaemolyticus in offshore areas was almost exclusively associated with zooplankton and was present in 80% of the samples. The influence of environmental factors assessed by generalized additive models revealed that the abundance and seasonality of V. parahaemolyticus in zooplankton was favoured by the concurrence of downwelling periods that promoted the zooplankton patchiness. These results confirm that offshore waters may be common habitats for V. parahaemolyticus, including strains with virulent traits. Additionally, genetically related populations were found in offshore zooplankton and in estuaries dispersed along 1500 km. This finding suggests that zooplankton may operate as a vehicle for oceanic dispersal of V. parahaemolyticus populations, connecting distant regions and habitats, and thereby producing impacts on the local community demography and the spread of Vibrio-related diseases.

The natural reservoirs and biological characteristics of pathogenic populations of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in marine habitats remain unclear due to difficulties in obtaining pathogenic strains from the environment. The distribution and characteristics of pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus were investigated over 1 year in three coastal environments in Galicia (Spain), including areas of the major international ports in the region. Vibrio parahaemolyticus was present in 35.3% of the samples analysed, and 535 strains were isolated over the period of study. Virulence genes were detected in 94 strains with diverse genetic traits: 66 trh+/tdh-, 24 trh-/tdh+ and 4 trh+/tdh+. Different spatial and seasonal patterns were observed in relation to genetic traits. The trh+/tdh- strains were detected exclusively in northern areas and prevailed in the autumn, when seawater is warmer and less saline, whereas the trh-/tdh+ strains were found in all three areas throughout winter and spring. Characterization of potentially pathogenic strains from the environment revealed an unexpectedly diverse array of serotypes and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) profiles (pulsotypes) that were unrelated to clinical strains of V. parahaemolyticus that are prevalent in Spain. The results of the current study provide a novel view of V. parahaemolyticus in Europe, in which diverse pathogenic groups are constitutive components of the environmental populations in coastal habitats.

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The occurrence of Salmonella enterica in the environment of tropical and desert regions has remained largely uninvestigated in many areas of the world, including Africa. In the present study, we investigated the presence of Salmonella spp. along 122 km of the coastline of Agadir (southern Morocco) in relation to environmental parameters. A total of 801 samples of seawater (243), marine sediment (279), and mussels (279) were collected from six sites between July 2004 and May 2008. The overall prevalence of Salmonella spp. was 7.1%, with the highest occurrence in mussels (10%), followed by sediment (6.8%) and seawater (4.1%). Only three serotypes were identified among the 57 Salmonella sp. strains isolated. S. enterica serotype Blockley represented 43.8% of all Salmonella strains and was identified in mussel and sediment samples. S. enterica serotype Kentucky (29.8%) was found almost exclusively in mussels, whereas S. enterica serotype Senftenberg (26.3%) was detected in sediment and seawater. Statistical analysis using generalized additive models identified seawater temperature, environmental temperature, rainfall, and solar radiation as significant factors associated with the presence of Salmonella. Rainfall was the only variable showing a linear positive effect on the presence of Salmonella in the sea, whereas the remaining variables showed more complex nonlinear effects. Twenty-eight (49.1%) Salmonella isolates displayed resistance to ampicillin (22 isolates), nalidixic acid (9 isolates), sulfonamide compounds (2 isolates), and tetracycline (1 isolate), with six of these isolates displaying multiple resistance to two of these antimicrobial agents. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis revealed homogenous restriction patterns within each serotype that were uncorrelated with the resistance pattern profiles.