Molecular epidemiology of the Bacillus anthracis isolates collected throughout Turkey from 1983 to 2011

Abstract

The main perspective of this study was to determine cross-transmissions amongst anthrax cases and provide detailed information regarding the genotypes of Bacillus anthracis isolates circulating in Turkey. A total of 251 B. anthracis isolates were obtained from human (93 isolates), animal (155 isolates), and environmental (three isolates) samples in various provinces of Turkey. All isolates were susceptible to quinolones, vancomycin, tigecycline, and linezolid, but not to ceftriaxone. Excluding human isolates, one of the animal isolates was found to be resistant to penicillin, erythromycin, and doxycycline. Multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeats analysis including 8 loci (MLVA8) revealed 12 genotypes, in which genotype 43 was observed at the highest frequency (41.8 %), followed by genotype 35 (25.5 %) and genotype 27 (10.4 %). Major subtype A3.a was the predominant cluster, including 86.8 % of the isolates. The MLVA25 analysis for the 251 isolates yielded 62 different genotypes, 33 of which had only one isolate, while the remaining 29 genotypes had 2 to 43 isolates, with a total of 218 isolates (86.9 %). These findings indicate very high cross-transmission rates within anthrax cases in Turkey. The genotypes diagnosed in Turkey are populated in the A major cluster. Penicillin prescribed as the first-choice antibiotic for the treatment of anthrax is still effective.

Phylogeography of Bacillus anthracis in the Country of Georgia Shows Evidence of Population Structuring and Is Dissimilar to Other Regional Genotypes

“…The temporal, geographic and phylogenetic diversity of the Georgian Aust94 isolates, coupled with the detection of MLVA A3a [1] (roughly equivalent to the Aust94 lineage) isolates in the region by other researchers [12]–[15] is strong evidence for the ecological establishment of this clade (Table S3). Reference isolates from Turkey in the MLVA A3a group reported in Keim et al [1] include six genotypes (genotypes 33, 36, 37, 41–43) and thus show regional diversity that is also reflected by the SNP genotyping here.…”

Genotyping of French Bacillus anthracis Strains Based on 31-Loci Multi Locus VNTR Analysis: Epidemiology, Marker Evaluation, and Update of the Internet Genotype Database

“…It was able to subtype a collection of over 400 B. anthracis strains into 89 genotypes defining two major clonal lineages (A and B) [6]. Since then, this VNTR panel has been applied in numerous studies to examine the diversity of B. anthracis throughout the world [17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25]. It is a very robust and convenient assay, in spite of its limited discriminatory power for epidemiologic analysis.…”

Genotyping of Bacillus anthracis Strains Circulating in Albania

“…However, the research should be extended to other parts of Albanian territory and especially in the southern regions more close to Turkey, where the genetic variability of the circulating strains of Bacillus anthracis is very high [18]. The genotypes of B. anthracis isolated from the soil samples of burial sites of the regions of Vlorë and Shkodër are identical to those of the strains isolated from animals died of anthrax.…”