Quantification of Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio cholerae in French Mediterranean coastal lagoons

Abstract

Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio cholerae are human pathogens. Little is known about these Vibrio spp. in the coastal lagoons of France. The purpose of this study was to investigate their incidence in water, shellfish and sediment of three French Mediterranean coastal lagoons using the most probable number-polymerase chain reaction (MPN-PCR). In summer, the total number of V. parahaemolyticus in water, sediment, mussels and clams collected from the three lagoons varied from 1 to >1.1 × 103 MPN/l, 0.09 to 1.1 × 103 MPN/ml, 9 to 210 MPN/g and 1.5 to 2.1 MPN/g, respectively. In winter, all samples except mussels contained V. parahaemolyticus, but at very low concentrations. Pathogenic (tdh- or trh2-positive) V. parahaemolyticus were present in water, sediment and shellfish samples collected from these lagoons. The number of V. vulnificus in water, sediment and shellfish samples ranged from 1 to 1.1 × 103 MPN/l, 0.07 to 110 MPN/ml and 0.04 to 15 MPN/g, respectively, during summer. V. vulnificus was not detected during winter. V. cholerae was rarely detected in water and sediment during summer. In summary, results of this study highlight the finding that the three human pathogenic Vibrio spp. are present in the lagoons and constitute a potential public health hazard.

Season-Specific Occurrence of Potentially Pathogenic Vibrio spp. on the Southern Coast of South Korea

“…Although human infections are rare, V. vulnificus disease causes the highest hospitalization (91.3%) and mortality (34.4%) rates of all foodborne diseases in the United States (14)(15)(16). One of the possible virulence determinants in V. vulnificus, vvp, which encodes elastolytic protease, may be a causative agent for skin lesions (16)(17)(18)(19)(20). It is well known that epidemic cholera is caused mainly by toxigenic V. cholerae O1 and O139.…”

Rapid Proliferation of Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio vulnificus, and Vibrio cholerae during Freshwater Flash Floods in French Mediterranean Coastal Lagoons

“…have also been documented to occur in coastal waters and shellfish-rearing areas in Europe, i.e., Spain (10), Italy (11, 12), Denmark (13), and Norway (14). These vibrios have been isolated in French coastal waters and shellfish at different locations along the English Channel, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Mediterranean Sea (15,16,17,18).Vibrios are less frequently associated with outbreaks of disease in Europe than in the United States and Asia, and specifically, the risk of V. parahaemolyticus infection is considered to be low (8,19). In France, 100 cases of V. parahaemolyticus infection were reported in 2001, following consumption of mussels imported from Ireland (20).…”

Prevalence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in Penaeus Monodon (Fabricius, 1798) from the Douala Coastal Waters of Cameroon: Implication for Food Safety

“…It is a facultative anaerobic organism that naturally inhabits estuarine and coastal waters worldwide [4,5]. It has been isolated from sediment, suspended particles [6] and from a wide variety of marine organisms [7], such as Crustaceans [8][9][10] and Molluscs [11].…”

“…Vibrio parahaemolyticus has been identified in a variety of seafood including shrimps, crabs, oysters and clams due to its halophilic characteristic and seawater habitat throughout the world including in Italy [4,15,]; in Germany [16], in USA [12,5], in India [17][18][19][20][21][22], in Iran [23][24][25], in Malaysia [26][27][28][29]11], in Egypt [30,10], in Nigeria [8,[31][32], in Cameroon, from fresh water prawn [33]. Vibrio parahaemolyticus has been reported from cultured shrimps, hatcheries and aquaculture ponds [34][35][36][37].…”