Travel- and Community-Based Transmission of Multidrug-Resistant Shigella sonnei Lineage among International Orthodox Jewish Communities.

Kate S Baker (1, 2) , Timothy J Dallman (3) , Adi Behar (4) , François-Xavier Weill (5) , Malika Gouali (5) , Jeremy Sobel (6) , Maria Fookes (2) , Lea Valinsky (7) , Ohad Gal-Mor (8) , Thomas R Connor (9, 2) , Israel Nissan (7) , Sophie Bertrand (10) , Julian Parkhill (2) , Claire Jenkins , Dani Cohen (8) , Nicholas R Thomson (11, 2)

1 University of Liverpool
2 The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute [Cambridge]
3 Public Health England [London]
4 KVI - Kimron Veterinary Institute
5 CNR-ESS - Centre National de Référence - National Reference Center Escherichia coli, Shigella et Salmonella
6 CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [Atlanta]
7 Ministry of Health Tel Aviv
8 TAU - Tel Aviv University
9 Cardiff University
10 WIV-ISP - Institut Scientifique de Santé Publique [Belgique] - Scientific Institute of Public Health [Belgium]
11 LSHTM - London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Shigellae are sensitive indicator species for studying trends in the international transmission of antimicrobial-resistant Enterobacteriaceae. Orthodox Jewish communities (OJCs) are a known risk group for shigellosis; Shigella sonnei is cyclically epidemic in OJCs in Israel, and sporadic outbreaks occur in OJCs elsewhere. We generated whole-genome sequences for 437 isolates of S. sonnei from OJCs and non-OJCs collected over 22 years in Europe (the United Kingdom, France, and Belgium), the United States, Canada, and Israel and analyzed these within a known global genomic context. Through phylogenetic and genomic analysis, we showed that strains from outbreaks in OJCs outside of Israel are distinct from strains in the general population and relate to a single multidrug-resistant sublineage of S. sonnei that prevails in Israel. Further Bayesian phylogenetic analysis showed that this strain emerged approximately 30 years ago, demonstrating the speed at which antimicrobial drug-resistant pathogens can spread widely through geographically dispersed, but internationally connected, communities.

Keywords: United States; Canada; Enterobacteriaceae; Europe; France; Israel; Jewish orthodox; Belgium; Shigella sonnei; antimicrobial resistance; bacteria; diarrhea; dysentery; enteric infections; gastroenteritis; shigellosis

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Santé publique et épidémiologie

Kate S Baker, Timothy J Dallman, Adi Behar, François-Xavier Weill, Malika Gouali, et al.. Travel- and Community-Based Transmission of Multidrug-Resistant Shigella sonnei Lineage among International Orthodox Jewish Communities.. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 2016, 22 (9), pp.1545-53. ⟨10.3201/eid2209.151953⟩. ⟨pasteur-01421099⟩