Enteric Plesiomonas shigelloides Infections in Finnish Patients

Abstract

Plesiomonas shigelloides was isolated from 20/13,027 stool samples submitted for culture to the Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, University of Helsinki, in 1990. All except 2/20 Plesiomonas-positive patients had diarrhea; 13 patients had acute onset of illness after foreign travel and 5 patients had chronic diarrhea with symptoms lasting > or = 2 months. Travel destinations were outside Europe in most cases. In 12 cases Plesiomonas was isolated in pure culture and in 8 cases together with other enteropathogens. All isolates were susceptible to ciprofloxacin, doxycycline, trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole, gentamicin, cephalexin, cefuroxime, ceftriaxone and cefixime.

Molecular evidence of Plesiomonas shigelloides as a possible zoonotic agent

“…Regrettably, however, information on plesiomonads in temperate regions is scarce. Enteric P. shigelloides infections in Finnish patients have been documented (Rautelin et al 1995), and in the same country, this microorganism has been recovered from various animal species (Niskanen and Salmela 2000). We have isolated and characterized these bacteria from lakes and river water in the central part of Sweden and even from a lake above the Polar Circle (González-Rey et al 2003).…”

“…It is implicated in both intestinal and extra-intestinal infections in humans (Vandepitte et al 1980;Rautelin et al 1995;Lee et al 1996). In addition, there are also reports on plesiomonad involvement in cases of diarrhea in animals (Foster et al 2000;Jagger et al 2000;Niskanen and Salmela 2000).…”

Core Oligosaccharides of Plesiomonas shigelloidesO54:H2 (Strain CNCTC 113/92)

“…Human infections with P. shigelloides are mostly related to drinking untreated water, eating uncooked shellfish (2,3), and visiting countries with low sanitary standards (4,5). Recent studies implicated P. shigelloides as an opportunistic pathogen in immunocompromised hosts (6) and especially neonates (6 -10).…”

The complete structure of the core of the LPS from Plesiomonas shigelloides 302–73 and the identification of its O-antigen biological repeating unit

“…[1][2][3][4] Plesiomonads infections in humans are presumably derived from exposure to contaminated water sources or from eating contaminated food and visiting countries with low sanitary standards. [5][6][7][8] P. shigelloides is a bacterium associated with diarrhoeal disease in humans. 9 The organism has been reported to cause several types of gastroenteritis, including acute secretory gastroenteritis, 10 an invasive shigellosis-like disease 11 and a cholera-like illness.…”