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Nontyphoidal Salmonella infection is the leading cause of global foodborne illnesses (1,2) and is estimated to cause 1.35 million illnesses annually in the United States (3). Salmonella enterica I serotype [...]

Whole genome sequencing is replacing traditional laboratory surveillance methods as the primary tool to track and characterize clusters and outbreaks of the foodborne and zoonotic pathogen Salmonella enterica (S. enterica). In this study, 438 S. enterica isolates representing 35 serovars and 13 broad vehicle categories from one hundred epidemiologically confirmed outbreaks were evaluated for genetic variation to develop epidemiologically relevant interpretation guidelines for Salmonella disease cluster detection. The Illumina sequences were analyzed by core genome multi-locus sequence typing (cgMLST) and screened for antimicrobial resistance (AR) determinants and plasmids. Ninety-three of the one hundred outbreaks exhibited a close allele range (less than 10 allele differences with a subset closer than 5). The remaining seven outbreaks showed increased variation, of which three were considered polyclonal. A total of 16 and 28 outbreaks, respectively, showed variations in the AR and plasmid profiles. The serovars Newport and I 4,[5],12:i:-, as well as the zoonotic and poultry product vehicles, were overrepresented among the outbreaks, showing increased variation. A close allele range in cgMLST profiles can be considered a reliable proxy for epidemiological relatedness for the vast majority of S. enterica outbreak investigations. Variations associated with mobile elements happen relatively frequently during outbreaks and could be reflective of changing selective pressures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nontyphoidal Salmonella infections cause an estimated 1.2 million illnesses, 23,000 hospitalizations, and 450 deaths each year in the United States (2). Although most infections result in self-limited illness, antimicrobial treatment [...]

A leading cause of bacterial foodborne disease in the United States is nontyphoidal Salmonella (1). Salmonella enterica serotype Infantis (hereafter called Salmonella Infantis) is one of the most common Salmonella [...]

Salmonella Dublin is a zoonotic Salmonella enterica serotype that in recent years has increased in infection incidence, antimicrobial drug resistance, and illness clinical severity. The Centers for Disease Control and [...]

Each year in the United States, nontyphoidal Salmonella causes an estimated 1.2 million illnesses, 23,000 hospitalizations, and 450 deaths (1). Antimicrobial drug-resistant Salmonella is a serious threat to public health [...]

Reports of Salmonella enterica I serotype 4, [5],12:i:-infections resistant to ampicillin, streptomycin, sulphamethoxazole, and tetracycline (ASSuT) have been increasing. We analyzed data from 5 national surveillance systems to describe the epidemiology, resistance traits, and genetics of infections with this Salmonella strain in the United States. We found ASSuT-resistant Salmonella 4, [5],12:i:-increased from 1.1% of Salmonella infections during 2009-2013 to 2.6% during 2014-2018; the proportion of Salmonella 4, [5],12:i:-isolates without this resistance pattern declined from 3.1% to 2.4% during the same timeframe. Among isolates sequenced during 2015-2018, a total of 69% were in the same phylogenetic clade. Within that clade, 77% of isolates had genetic determinants of ASSuT resistance, and 16% had genetic determinants of decreased susceptibility to ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone, or azithromycin. Among outbreaks related to the multidrug-resistant clade, 63% were associated with pork consumption or contact with swine. Preventing Salmonella 4, [5],12:i:-carriage in swine would likely prevent human infections with this strain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vibrio cholerae is the bacterium that causes cholera, a disease characterized by acute watery diarrhea, vomiting, muscle cramps, and severe dehydration (1). The bacterium has many serogroups, but only toxin-producing [...]

The MtrR transcriptional-regulatory protein is known to repress transcription of the mtrCDE operon, which encodes a multidrug efflux pump possessed by Neisseria gonorrhoeae that is important in the ability of gonococci to resist certain hydrophobic antibiotics, detergents, dyes, and host-derived antimicrobials. In order to determine whether MtrR can exert regulatory action on other gonococcal genes, we performed a whole-genome microarray analysis using total RNA extracted from actively growing broth cultures of isogenic MtrR-positive and MtrR-negative gonococci. We determined that, at a minimum, 69 genes are directly or indirectly subject to MtrR control, with 47 being MtrR repressed and 22 being MtrR activated, rpoH, which encodes the general stress response sigma factor RpoH (sigma 32), was found by DNA-binding studies to be directly repressed by MtrR, as it was found to bind to a DNA sequence upstream of rpoH that included sites within the rpoH promoter MtrR also repressed the expression of certain RpoH-regulated genes, but this regulation was likely indirect and a reflection of MtrR control of rpoH expression. Inducible expression of MtrR was found to repress rpoH expression and to increase gonococcal susceptibility to hydrogen peroxide ([H.sub.2][O.sub.2]) and an antibiotic (erythromycin) recognized by the MtrC-MtrD-MtrE efflux pump system. We propose that, apart from its ability to control the expression of the mtrCDE-encoded elflux pump operon and, as a consequence, levels of gonococcal resistance to host antimicrobials (e.g., antimicrobial peptides) recognized by the efflux pump, the ability of MtrR to regulate the expression levels of rpoH and RpoH-regulated genes also modulates levels of gonococcal susceptibility to [H.sub.2][O.sub.2].

To the Editor: The agents of epidemic cholera are Vibrio cholerae toxigenic serogroups 01 and 0139. Cholera symptoms include watery diarrhea and severe dehydration, which can rapidly result in death [...]

Neisseria gonorrhoeae utilizes the mtrCDE-encoded efflux pump system to resist not only host-derived, hydrophobic antimicrobials that bathe mucosal surfaces, which likely aids in its ability to colonize and infect numerous sites within the human host, but also antibiotics that have been used clinically to treat infections. Recently, overexpression of the MtrC-MtrD-MtrE efflux pump was shown to be critically involved in the capacity of gonococci to develop chromosomally mediated resistance to penicillin G, which for over 40 years was used to treat gonococcal infections. Mutations in either the promoter or the coding sequence of the mtrR gene, which encodes a repressor of the efflux pump operon, decrease gonococcal susceptibility to penicillin. We now describe the capacity of MtrR to directly or indirectly influence the expression of two other loci that are involved in gonococcal susceptibility to penicillin: ponA, which encodes penicillin-binding protein 1 (PBP 1), and the pilMNOPQ operon, which encodes components of the type IV pilus secretion system, with PilQ acting as a channel for entry for penicillin. We determined that MtrR increases the expression of ponA directly or indirectly, resulting in increased levels of PBP 1, while repressing the expression of the divergently transcribed pilM gene, the first gene in the pilMNOPQ operon. Taken together with other studies, the results presented herein indicate that transcriptional regulation of gonococcal genes by MtrR is centrally involved in determining levels of gonococcal susceptibility to penicillin and provides a framework for understanding how resistance developed over the years.

The obligate human pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae uses the MtrC-MtrD-MtrE efflux pump to resist structurally diverse hydrophobic antimicrobial agents (HAs), some of which bathe mucosal surfaces that become infected during transmission of gonococci. Constitutive high-level HA resistance occurs by the loss of a repressor (MtrR) that negatively controls transcription of the mtrCDE operon. This high-level HA resistance also requires the product of the mtrF gene, which is located downstream and transcriptionally divergent from mtrCDE. MtrF is a putative inner membrane protein, but its role in HA resistance mediated by the MtrC-MtrD-MtrE efflux pump remains to be determined. High-level HA resistance can also be mediated through an induction process that requires enhanced transcription of mtrCDE when gonococci are grown in the presence of a sublethal concentration of Triton X-100. We now report that inactivation of mtrF results in a significant reduction in the induction of HA resistance and that the expression of mtrF is enhanced when gonococci are grown under inducing conditions. However, no effect was observed on the induction of mtrCDE expression in an MtrF-negative strain. The expression of mtrF was repressed by MtrR, the major repressor of mtrCDE expression. In addition to MtrR, another repressor (MpeR) can downregulate the expression of mtrF. Repression of mtrF by MtrR and MpeR was additive, demonstrating that the repressive effects mediated by these regulators are independent processes.

Results reveal that the extracellular proteins of Vibrio cholerae exhibit an extracellular transport signal of the endochitinase, which is localized to a region between amino acids 75 and 555 of the enzyme. Data indicate that the transport signal protein is a structural motiff of the enzyme endochitinase.

Severe non-Typhi Salmonella (NTS) infections are commonly treated with fluoroquinolones such as ciprofloxacin or, in children, with extended-spectrum cephalosporins such as ceftriaxone. The emergence of Salmonella spp. isolates that display [...]