Journal Article

Genomic epidemiology of Campylobacter jejuni associated with asymptomatic pediatric infection in the Peruvian Amazon

Méric, Guillaume, Yori, Pablo Peñataro, Sheppard, Samuel K., Pascoe, Ben, Burga, Rosa, Kosek, Margaret N., Calland, Jessica K., Cooper, Kerry K., Bayliss, Sion C., Olortegui, Maribel Paredes, Schiaffino, Francesca, Hitchings, Matthew D., Mourkas, Evangelos, Parker, Craig T., Jolley, Keith A., Murray, Susan

2020

Overview

Campylobacter is the leading bacterial cause of gastroenteritis worldwide and its incidence is especially high in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Disease epidemiology in LMICs is different compared to high income countries like the USA or in Europe. Children in LMICs commonly have repeated and chronic infections even in the absence of symptoms, which can lead to deficits in early childhood development. In this study, we sequenced and characterized C. jejuni (n = 62) from a longitudinal cohort study of children under the age of 5 with and without diarrheal symptoms, and contextualized them within a global C. jejuni genome collection. Epidemiological differences in disease presentation were reflected in the genomes, specifically by the absence of some of the most common global disease-causing lineages. As in many other countries, poultry-associated strains were likely a major source of human infection but almost half of local disease cases (15 of 31) were attributable to genotypes that are rare outside of Peru. Asymptomatic infection was not limited to a single (or few) human adapted lineages but resulted from phylogenetically divergent strains suggesting an important role for host factors in the cryptic epidemiology of campylobacteriosis in LMICs.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Amazonia / Animals / Asymptomatic / Asymptomatic infection / Asymptomatic Infections / Biochemistry / Biology / Biology and Life Sciences / Campylobacter / Campylobacter infections / Campylobacter Infections - diagnosis / Campylobacter Infections - epidemiology / Campylobacter Infections - microbiology / Campylobacter Infections - physiopathology / Campylobacter jejuni / Campylobacter jejuni - classification / Campylobacter jejuni - genetics / Campylobacteriosis / child development / Child, Preschool / Children / Cohort Studies / Cohorts / Consumption / Countries / Datasets / Diagnosis / Diarrhea / Diarrhea - epidemiology / Diseases / Divergence / Earth Sciences / Ecology and Environmental Sciences / Epidemiology / Europe / Evolution / Food contamination & poisoning / Gastroenteritis / Genetic aspects / Genetic research / genome / Genomes / Genomics / Genotype / Genotypes / Health surveillance / Host-Parasite Interactions / human diseases / Humans / Identification and classification / Income / Infant / Infant, Newborn / Infections / Infectious diseases / Laboratories / Longitudinal Studies / Medicine and Health Sciences / Methods / Microbiological strains / Molecular Typing / Multilocus Sequence Typing / Parks & recreation areas / Pediatrics / Peru / Peru - epidemiology / Phylogeny / Poultry - microbiology / Prevalence studies (Epidemiology) / Signs and symptoms / Social Sciences / Strains / Strains (organisms) / Symptoms / Tropical diseases / Zoology