Detection of Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio cholerae with respect to seasonal fluctuations in temperature and plankton abundance

Abstract

Over a 1-year period, bi-monthly estuarine surface water and plankton samples (63-200 and > 200 μm fractions) were assayed by polymerase chain reaction for the prevalence of total Vibrio parahaemolyticus, V. vulnificus and V. cholerae and select genes associated with clinical strains found in each species. Neither temperature nor plankton abundance was a significant correlate of total V. parahaemolyticus; however, the prevalence of genes commonly associated with clinical strains (trh, tdh, ORF8) increased with temperature and copepod abundance (P < 0.05). The prevalence of total V. vulnificus and the siderophore-related viuB gene also increased with temperature and copepod and decapod abundance (P < 0.001). Temperature and copepod abundance also covaried with the prevalence of V. cholerae (P < 0.05), but there was no significant relationship with ctxA or other genes commonly found in clinical strains. Results show that genes commonly associated with clinical Vibrio strains were more frequently detected in association with chitinous plankton. We conclude that V. parahaemolyticus, V. vulnificus, V. cholerae and subpopulations that harbour genes common to clinical strains respond distinctly to seasonal changes in temperature as well as shifts in the taxonomic composition of discrete plankton fractions.

Long-Term Study of Vibrio parahaemolyticus Prevalence and Distribution in New Zealand Shellfish

“…These findings suggest that environmental factors interact differently for each subpopulation. Remote sensing of SST rise could be a valuable tool for a risk assessment framework covering this pathogen in oysters at harvest (32), as well as plankton composition (32) and water turbidity (33). Other studies have shown that numbers of V. parahaemolyticus containing the tdh or trh gene were variable and sometimes inversely related to temperature (34,35), whereas our limited tdh data did not support the latter observation.…”

Ultrafiltration and Microarray for Detection of Microbial Source Tracking Marker and Pathogen Genes in Riverine and Marine Systems

“…Unlike V. cholerae, Vibrio fluvialis and Vibrio parahaemolyticus (also in sewage) were found only in marine and spiked marine water samples. V. parahaemolyticus infections are much more common in the United States than V. cholerae infections; therefore, it is not as surprising to find the bacterium in sewage, and it is common in estuarine and coastal waters (37,38). The most probable reason for the aberrant detection of V. cholerae by microarray is false-positive detection due to low specificity of the microarray probe.…”

Environmental parameters influence on the dynamics of total and pathogenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus densities in Crassostrea virginica harvested from Mexico’s Gulf coast

“…It is commonly found free swimming, attached to underwater surfaces, and commensally associated with various species of shellfish (Deter et al, 2010;Turner et al, 2014). V. parahaemolyticus has recently been recognized as one of the most important emerging foodborne pathogen and as the leading causal agent of human acute gastroenteritis, primarily following the consumption of raw, undercooked or mishandled seafood and marine products, particularly oysters Wong et al, 2000;Duan and Su, 2005;Martinez-Urtaza et al, 2005;Yano et al, 2006;Su and Liu, 2007;Di Pinto et al, 2008;Pal and Das, 2010;Velázquez-Roman et al, 2012).…”