Affiliation:
1. Kern County Public Health Laboratory, Department of Public Health Services, Bakersfield, California, USA
2. Microbial Diseases Laboratory, California Department of Public Health, Richmond, California, USA
3. Microbiology Department (SEALS), St. George Hospital, Kogarah, and School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales, NSW, Sydney, Australia
Abstract
SUMMARY
After many years in the family
Vibrionaceae
, the genus
Plesiomonas
, represented by a single species,
P. shigelloides
, currently resides in the family
Enterobacteriaceae
, although its most appropriate phylogenetic position may yet to be determined. Common environmental reservoirs for plesiomonads include freshwater ecosystems and estuaries and inhabitants of these aquatic environs. Long suspected as being an etiologic agent of bacterial gastroenteritis, convincing evidence supporting this conclusion has accumulated over the past 2 decades in the form of a series of foodborne outbreaks solely or partially attributable to
P. shigelloides
. The prevalence of
P. shigelloides
enteritis varies considerably, with higher rates reported from Southeast Asia and Africa and lower numbers from North America and Europe. Reasons for these differences may include hygiene conditions, dietary habits, regional occupations, or other unknown factors. Other human illnesses caused by
P. shigelloides
include septicemia and central nervous system disease, eye infections, and a variety of miscellaneous ailments. For years, recognizable virulence factors potentially associated with
P. shigelloides
pathogenicity were lacking; however, several good candidates now have been reported, including a cytotoxic hemolysin, iron acquisition systems, and lipopolysaccharide. While
P. shigelloides
is easy to identify biochemically, it is often overlooked in stool samples due to its smaller colony size or relatively low prevalence in gastrointestinal samples. However, one FDA-approved PCR-based culture-independent diagnostic test system to detect multiple enteropathogens (FilmArray) includes
P. shigelloides
on its panel. Plesiomonads produce β-lactamases but are typically susceptible to many first-line antimicrobial agents, including quinolones and carbapenems.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Infectious Diseases,Microbiology (medical),Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health,General Immunology and Microbiology,Epidemiology
Cited by
113 articles.
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