Agricultural fertilization with poultry manure results in persistent environmental contamination with the pathogenClostridioides difficile

Abstract

During a field experiment applying broiler manure for fertilization of agricultural land, we detected viable Clostridioides (formerly, Clostridium) difficile in broiler feces, manure, dust, and fertilized soil. A large diversity of toxigenic C. difficile isolates was recovered, including PCR ribotypes common from human disease. Genomic relatedness of C. difficile isolates from dust and from soil, recovered more than two years after fertilization, traced their origins to the specific chicken farm that had delivered the manure. We present evidence of long-term contamination of agricultural soil with manure-derived C. difficile and demonstrate the potential for airborne dispersal of C. difficile through dust emissions during manure application. Clostridioides genome sequences virtually identical to those from manure had been recovered from chicken meat and from human infections in previous studies, suggesting broiler-associated C. difficile are capable of zoonotic transmission.

Non‐clinical settings – the understudied facet of antimicrobial drug resistance

“…In this special issue, contributions explore the dynamics of antimicrobial drug resistance and bacterial pathogens outside the clinic. Frentrup and colleagues (2021) conducted a field experiment applying broiler manure to agricultural land and showed that manure‐derived isolates of Clostridium difficile contaminated agricultural soils for a long period of time. These data suggest that C. difficile can be a zoonotic problem.…”