Shigella flexneri serotype 2 variant (II:3,4,7,8) was isolated in 2008 and first reported in China in 2013. In the present study, epidemiological surveillance from 2003 to 2013 in China suggested that this serotype first appeared in Guangxi in 2003; it then emerged in Shanghai and Xinjiang in 2004 and in Henan in 2008. Of the 1813 S. flexneri isolates, 58 S. flexneri serotype 2 variant strains were identified. Serotype 2 variant has emerged as a prominent serotype in recent years, with 2a (32.6%), X variant (25.2%), 1a (9.4%), X (6.3%), 2b (5.4%), and 1b (3.6%). According to phenotypic and genotypic analysis, the serotype 2 variant originated from 2a to 2b. A higher antibiotic resistance rate was observed between 2009 and 2013 than that between 2003 and 2008. Among 22 cephalosporin-resistant isolates, blaTEM-1, blaOXA-1, blaCTX-3, blaCTX-14, and blaCTX-79 were detected. Among 22 fluoroquinolone-resistant isolates, a Ser80Ile mutation in parC was present in all of the isolates. Moreover, 21 isolates had three gyrA point mutations (Ser83Leu, His211Tyr, Asp87Asn, or Gly) and one isolate had two gyrA point mutations (Ser83Leu and His211Tyr). The prevalence of His211Tyr in the fluoroquinolone-resistant isolates is concerning, and the mutation was first reported in China. Besides, 22 isolates harbored the aac(6′)-Ib-cr gene, and two isolates harbored qnrS1. In view of the increased epidemic frequency and multidrug-resistant strain emergence, continuous surveillance will be needed to understand the actual disease burden and provide guidance for shigellosis.

We aimed to analyze the antimicrobial resistance phenotypes and to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying resistance to cephalosporins, ciprofloxacin, and azithromycin in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium isolates identified from patients with diarrhea in Shanghai. The isolates showed high rates of resistance to traditional antimicrobials, and 20.6, 12.7, and 5.5% of them exhibited decreased susceptibility to cephalosporins, ciprofloxacin, and azithromycin, respectively. Notably, 473 (84.6%) isolates exhibited multidrug resistance (MDR), including 161 (28.8%) isolates that showed an ACSSuT profile. Twenty-two MDR isolates concurrently exhibited decreased susceptibility to cephalosporins and ciprofloxacin, and six of them were co-resistant to azithromycin. Of all the 71 isolates with decreased susceptibility to ciprofloxacin, 65 showed at least one mutation (D87Y, D87N, or D87G) in gyrA, among which seven isolates simultaneously had mutations of parC (S80R) (n = 6) or parC (T57S/S80R) (n = 1), while 49 isolates with either zero or one mutation in gyrA contained plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) genes including qnrB, qnrS, and aac(6′)-Ib-cr. Among the 115 cephalosporin-resistant isolates, the most common ESBL gene was blaCTX-M, followed by blaTEM-1, blaOXA-1, and blaSHV -12. Eight subtypes of blaCTX-M were identified and blaCTX-M-14 (n = 22) and blaCTX-M-55 (n = 31) were found to be dominant. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the presence of blaCTX-M-123 and blaCTX-M-125 in S. Typhimurium. Besides, mphA gene was identified in 15 of the 31 azithromycin-resistant isolates. Among the 22 isolates with reduced susceptibility to cephalosporins and ciprofloxacin, 15 contained ESBL and PMQR genes. Coexistence of these genes lead to the emergence of MDR and the transmission of them will pose great difficulties in S. Typhimurium treatments. Therefore, surveillance for these MDR isolates should be enhanced.

To conduct the first comprehensive analysis of Shigella flexneri serotype 4s, a novel serotype found in 2010, we identified 24 serotype 4s isolates from 1973 shigellosis cases in China (2002–2014). The isolates were characterized by single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) phylogenetic analysis, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) to determine their genetic relatedness, and analysed further for their antimicrobial susceptibilities and antimicrobial resistance determinants. The PFGE and SNP phylogenetic analyses suggest that S. flexneri serotype 4s strains are derived from multiple serotypes, including two predominant serotypes in China: serotype X variant and serotype II. Three new sequence types were identified by MLST. All isolates were resistant to ticarcillin, ampicillin and tetracycline, with high-level resistance to third-generation cephalosporins. Notably, all the isolates were multidrug resistant (MDR), with the highest levels of resistance observed for eight antimicrobials classes. Most isolates contain various antimicrobial resistance determinants. In conclusion, we found that serotype 4s isolates have multiple evolutionary sources, diverse biochemical characteristics and genomes, and highly prevalent multidrug resistance and antimicrobial-resistant determinants. With few clinical treatment options, continuous monitoring and timely intervention against this emerging MDR serotype is essential. The possibility that serotype 4s will become the next predominant serotype exists.

Human adenovirus 7 (HAdV-7) strains are a major cause of acute respiratory disease (ARD) among adults and children, associated with fatal pneumonia. An ARD outbreak caused by HAdV-7 that involved 739 college students was reported in this article. To better understand the underlying cause of this large-scale epidemic, virus strains were isolated from infected patients and sequence variations of the whole genome sequence were detected. Evolutionary trees and alignment results indicated that the major capsid protein genes hexon and fibre were strongly conserved among serotype 7 strains in China at that time. Instead, the HAdV-7 strains presented three thymine deletions in the virus associated RNA (VA RNA) II terminal region. We also found that the mutation might lead to increased mRNA expression of an adjacent gene, L1 52/55K, and thus promoted faster growth. These findings suggest that sequence variation of VA RNA II gene was a potential cause of such a severe HAdV-7 infection and this gene should be a new-emerging factor to be monitored for better understanding of HAdV-7 infection.

Background Shigella spp., facultative anaerobic bacilli of the family Enterobacteriaceae , are one of the most common causes of diarrheal diseases in human worldwide which have become a significant public health burden. So, we aimed to analyze the antimicrobial phenotypes and to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying resistance to cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones in Shigella isolates from patients with diarrhea in Shanxi Province. Results During 2006–2016, we isolated a total of 474 Shigella strains (including 337 S. flexneri and 137 S. sonnei ). The isolates showed high rates of resistance to traditional antimicrobials, and 26, 18.1 and 3.0% of them exhibited resistance to cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones and co-resistance to cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones, respectively. Notably, 91.1% of these isolates, including 22 isolates that showed an ACTSuT profile, exhibited multidrug resistance (MDR). The resistance rates to cephalosporins in S. sonnei isolates were higher than those in S. flexneri. Conversely, the resistance rates to fluoroquinolones were considerably higher in S. flexneri isolates. Among the 123 cephalosporins-resistant isolates, the most common extended-spectrum beta-lactamase gene was bla TEM-1 , followed by bla CTX-M , bla OXA-1 , and bla SHV-12 . Six subtypes of bla CTX-M were identified, bla CTX-M-14 ( n = 36) and bla CTX-M-55 ( n = 26) were found to be dominant. Of all the 86 isolates with resistance to fluoroquinolones and having at least one mutation (Ser83Leu, His211Tyr, or Asp87Gly) in the the quinolone resistance-determining regions of gyr A, 79 also had mutation of par C (Ser80Ile), whereas 7 contained plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance genes including qnr A, qnr B, qnr S, and aac(60)-Ib-cr. Furthermore, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis (PFGE) showed a considerable genetic diversity in S. flexneri isolates. However, the S. sonnei isolates had a high genetic similarity. Conclusions Coexistence of diverse resistance genes causing the emergence and transmission of MDR might render the treatment of shigellosis difficult. Therefore, continuous surveillance might be needed to understand the actual disease burden a...

Here, we report for the first time a waterborne outbreak of Shigella sonnei in China in 2015. Eleven multidrug-resistant (MDR) S. sonnei isolates were recovered, showing high resistance to azithromycin and third-generation cephalosporins in particular, due to an mph(A)-and bla CTX-M-14 -harboring IncB/O/K/Z group transmissible plasmid of 104,285 kb in size. Our study highlights the potential prevalence of the MDR outbreak of S. sonnei in China and its further dissemination worldwide with the development of globalization.

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Salmonella enterica infections continue to be a significant burden on public health worldwide. The ability of S. enterica to produce hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is an important phenotypic characteristic used to screen and identify Salmonella with selective medium; however, H2S-negative Salmonella have recently emerged. In this study, the H2S phenotype of Salmonella isolates was confirmed, and the selected isolates were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing and molecular identification by multilocus sequence typing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) analysis. The phs genetic operon was also analyzed. A total of 160 S. enterica serovar Aberdeen isolates were detected between 2005 and 2013 in China. Of them, seven non-H2S-producing isolates were detected. Notably, four samples yielded four pairs of isolates with different H2S phenotypes, simultaneously. The data demonstrated that H2S-negative isolates were genetically closely related to H2S-positive isolates. Three new spacers (Abe1, Abe2, and Abe3) were identified in CRISPR locus 1 in four pairs of isolates with different H2S phenotypes from the same samples. Sequence analysis revealed a new nonsense mutation at position 208 in the phsA gene of all non-H2S-producing isolates. Additionally, we describe a new screening procedure to avoid H2S-negative Salmonella, which would normally be overlooked during laboratory and hospital screening. The prevalence of this pathogen may be underestimated; therefore, it is important to focus on improving surveillance of this organism to control its spread.