Virulence Profiles of Vibrio vulnificus in German Coastal Waters, a Comparison of North Sea and Baltic Sea Isolates

Abstract

Vibrio vulnificus is a halophilic bacterium of coastal environments known for sporadically causing severe foodborne or wound infections. Global warming is expected to lead to a rising occurrence of V. vulnificus and an increasing incidence of human infections in Northern Europe. So far, infections in Germany were exclusively documented for the Baltic Sea coast, while no cases from the North Sea region have been reported. Regional variations in the prevalence of infections may be influenced by differences in the pathogenicity of V. vulnificus populations in both areas. This study aimed to compare the distribution of virulence-associated traits and genotypes among 101 V. vulnificus isolates from the Baltic Sea and North Sea in order to assess their pathogenicity potential. Furthermore, genetic relationships were examined by multilocus sequence typing (MLST). A high diversity of MLST sequences (74 sequence types) and differences regarding the presence of six potential pathogenicity markers were observed in the V. vulnificus populations of both areas. Strains with genotypes and markers associated with pathogenicity are not restricted to a particular geographic region. This indicates that lack of reported cases in the North Sea region is not caused by the absence of potentially pathogenic strains.

LowerVibriospp. abundances inZostera marinaleaf canopies suggest a novel ecosystem function for temperate seagrass beds

“…Nevertheless, owing to the growing importance of Vibrio spp. for tourism and human health during summer months in rapidly warming northern European seas (8,19) we consider this data set worthwhile for publication in order to motivate further studies.…”

Isolation and Detection of Vibrio vulnificus from Coastal Seawater of Babolsar

“…Vibrio vulnificus enters the body via the consumption of seafood or through an open wound exposed to seawater, contaminated with the bacteria. Due to its high proliferation, wound infections may quickly progress to necrotizing fasciitis and septicemia (14). The investigation was done to gain public awareness of bacteria existence in the area under study.…”

Impact of hypoxia on gene expression patterns by the human pathogen, Vibrio vulnificus, and bacterial community composition in a North Carolina estuary

“…This warming, combined with natural and anthropogenic eutrophication, increased microbial activity, and increased thermal stratification will likely exacerbate chronic and seasonal hypoxic events. Although hypoxia will increase globally via various mechanisms related to climate change [ Barros et al , ; Rabalais et al , , ], these two areas are interesting in terms of Vibrio infection rates, both historically and continuously from the Gulf of Mexico and newly emerging infections in the Baltic region [ Baker‐Austin et al , ; Bier et al , ; Levy , ]. What is uncertain is the impact on diseases caused by marine Vibrios , in fact, the IPCC has low confidence in predicting the impact that this hypoxia has on these ecosystems, especially in the context of human health [ Barros et al , ].…”

“…Since the 1970s cases of reported hypoxic zones have increased dramatically with some of the more recent cases being documented in the Baltic Sea, an area undergoing rapid sea surface temperature warming [ MacKenzie and Schiedek , ; Meier et al , ]. Recently, infections caused by such pathogenic Vibrio species as V. vulnificus, V. parahaemolyticus, and V. cholerae are being reported in areas where such infections were never seen before, as far as 65°N, during unseasonably warm heat wave phenomena [ Baker‐Austin et al , ; Bier et al , ; Levy , ]. Although the aforementioned increases were not specifically investigated in the context of hypoxia, it has been shown that hypoxia is positively correlated with temperature and is at its peak during summer months worldwide [ Rabalais et al , ], corresponding to high levels of Vibrio spp.…”