The prevalence of Francisella spp. in different natural surface water samples collected from northwest of Iran
-
Mahdi Rohani
,
Abdolrazagh Hashemi Shahraki
,
Ahmad Ghasemi
,
Saber Esmaeili
,
Aynur Karadenizli
,
Ehsan Mostafavi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Francisella tularensis has a wide distribution in northern hemisphere of the world. Up to now, there was little information about the Francisella spp. situation in the environmental samples in Iran. In this study we aimed to determine the prevalence of Francisella spp. in the environmental samples in northwest of Iran.
Materials and Methods: A total of 237 natural water samples from ponds, rivers, lakes, springs and other surface waters from north western provinces of Iran (Kurdistan and Western Azerbaijan) were collected from September to November 2015. All samples were cultured for Francisella and other bacterial species and Real Time TaqMan PCR was performed on the concentrated and DNA extracted samples. For detection of the presence of bacterial DNA in the samples, two different targets in the genome of Francisella, ISFtu2 and fopA were used.
Results: Among the tested surface water samples, 40 (17.09%; 95% CI: 12.67-22.33%) and 12 (5.13%; 95%CI: 2.81-8.56%) samples were positive for ISFtu2 and fopA respectively. None of them was positive in culture.
Conclusion: The prevalence of Francisella spp. in the environmental samples in the west of Iran is high and it is comparable with Turkey, Iran’s neighboring country. Use of higher copy number genes or IS like ISFtu2 could improve the detection of this organism in the environmental samples.
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14. Yeşilyurt M, Kılıç S, Celebi B, Gül S. Tularemia: are hunters really a risk group? Mikrobiyol Bul 2012;46:153-155.
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17. Berrada ZL, Telford III SR. Survival of Francisella tularensis Type A in brackish-water. Arch Microbiol 2011;193:223-226.
18. Akalın H, Helvacı S, Gedikoğlu S. Re-emergence of tularemia in Turkey. Int J Infect Dis 2009;13:547-551.
19. Petersen J, Carlson J, Yockey B, Pillai S, Kuske C, Garbalena G, et al. Direct isolation of Francisella spp. from environmental samples. Lett Appl Microbiol 2009;48:663-667.
20. Broman T, Thelaus J, Andersson A-C, Bäckman S, Wikström P, Larsson E, et al. Molecular detection of persistent Francisella tularensis subspecies holarctica in natural waters. Int J Microbiol 2011; 2011: 851946.
21. Berrada ZL, Telford SR. Diversity of Francisella species in environmental samples from Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Microb Ecol 2010;59:277-283.
22. Whitehouse C, Kesterson K, Duncan D, Eshoo M, Wolcott M. Identification and characterization of Francisella species from natural warm springs in Utah, USA. Lett Appl Microbio 2012;54:313-324.
23. Shabbir MZ, Jamil T, Ali AA, Ahmad A, Naeem M, Chaudhary MH, et al. Prevalence and distribution of soil-borne zoonotic pathogens in Lahore district of Pakistan. Front Microbiol 2015;6:917.
24. Gurcan S, Karabay O, Karadenizli A, Karagol C, Kantardjiev T, Ivanov IN. Characteristics of the Turkish isolates of Francisella tularensis. Jpn J Infect Dis 2008;61:223-235.
25. Forsman M, Henningson EW, Larsson E, Johansson T, Sandström G. Francisella tularensis does not manifest virulence in viable but non-culturable state. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 2000; 31: 217-224.
26. Meibom KL, Charbit A. Francisella tularensis metabolism and its relation to virulence. Front Microbiol 2010;1:140.
27. Ramamurthy T, Ghosh A, Pazhani GP, Shinoda S. Current perspectives on viable but non-culturable (VBNC) pathogenic bacteria. Front Public Health 2014;2:103.
28. El-Etr SH, Margolis JJ, Monack D, Robison RA, Cohen M, Moore E, et al. Francisella tularensis type A strains cause the rapid encystment of Acanthamoeba castellanii and survive in amoebal cysts for three weeks
postinfection. Appl Environ Microbiol 2009;75:7488-7500.
29. Evstigneeva A, Raoult D, Karpachevskiy L, La Scola B. Amoeba co-culture of soil specimens recovered 33 different bacteria, including four new species and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Microbiology 2009;155:657-664.
2. Champion MD, Zeng Q, Nix EB, Nano FE, Keim P, Kodira CD, et al. Comparative genomic characterization of Francisella tularensis strains belonging to low and high virulence subspecies. PLoS Pathog 2009;5(5):e1000459.
3. Hestvik G, Warns-Petit E, Smith L, Fox N, Uhlhorn H, Artois M, et al. The status of tularemia in Europe in a one-health context: a review. Epidemiol Infect 2015;143:2137-2160.
4. Petersen JM, Schriefer ME. Tularemia: emergence/re-emergence. Vet Res 2005;36:455-467.
5. Arata A, Chamsa M, Farhang-Azad A, Meščerjakova I, Neronov V, Saidi S. First detection of tularaemia in domestic and wild mammals in Iran. Bull World Health Organ 1973;49:597-603.
6. Karimi Y, Salarkia F, Ghasemi M. Tularemia: first human case in Iran. J Med Coun Iran 1981;8:134-141.
7. Rohani M, Mohsenpour B, Ghasemi A, Esmaeili S, Karimi M, Neubauer H, et al. A case report of human tularemia from Iran. Iran J Microbiol 2018;10:250-253.
8. Pourhossein B, Esmaeili S, Gyuranecz M, Mostafavi E. Tularemia and plague survey in rodents in an earthquake zone in southeastern Iran. Epidemiol Health 2015;37: e2015050.
9. Mostafavi E, Shahraki AH, Japoni-Nejad A, Esmaeili S, Darvish J, Sedaghat MM, et al. A field study of plague and tularemia in Rodents, Western Iran. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis 2017;17:247-253.
10. Esmaeili S, Esfandiari B, Maurin M, Gouya MM, Shirzadi MR, Amiri FB, et al. Serological survey of tularemia among butchers and slaughterhouse workers in Iran. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 2014:108:516-518.
11. Esmaeili S, Gooya MM, Shirzadi MR, Esfandiari B, Amiri FB, Behzadi MY, et al. Seroepidemiological survey of tularemia among different groups in western Iran. Int J Infect Dis 2014;18:27-31.
12. Dedeoğlu KG, Gürcan S, Eskiocak M, Kilic H, Kunduracilar H. Investigation of tularemia seroprevalence in the rural area of Thrace region in Turkey. Mikrobiyol Bul 2007;41:411-418.
13. Yazgı H, Uyanık M, Ertek M, Kılıç S, Kirecci E, Ozden K, et al. Tularemia seroprevalence in the risky population living in both rural and urban areas of Erzurum. Mikrobiyol Bul 2011;45:67-74.
14. Yeşilyurt M, Kılıç S, Celebi B, Gül S. Tularemia: are hunters really a risk group? Mikrobiyol Bul 2012;46:153-155.
15. Clark DV, Ismailov A, Seyidova E, Hajiyeva A, Bakhishova S, Hajiyev H, et al. Seroprevalence of tularemia in rural Azerbaijan. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis 2012;12:558-563.
16. Çelebi G, Baruonu F, Ayoglu F, Çinar F, Karadenizli A, Ugur MB, et al. Tularemia, a reemerging disease in northwest Turkey: epidemiological investigation and evaluation of treatment responses. Jpn J Infect Dis 2006;59:229-234.
17. Berrada ZL, Telford III SR. Survival of Francisella tularensis Type A in brackish-water. Arch Microbiol 2011;193:223-226.
18. Akalın H, Helvacı S, Gedikoğlu S. Re-emergence of tularemia in Turkey. Int J Infect Dis 2009;13:547-551.
19. Petersen J, Carlson J, Yockey B, Pillai S, Kuske C, Garbalena G, et al. Direct isolation of Francisella spp. from environmental samples. Lett Appl Microbiol 2009;48:663-667.
20. Broman T, Thelaus J, Andersson A-C, Bäckman S, Wikström P, Larsson E, et al. Molecular detection of persistent Francisella tularensis subspecies holarctica in natural waters. Int J Microbiol 2011; 2011: 851946.
21. Berrada ZL, Telford SR. Diversity of Francisella species in environmental samples from Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Microb Ecol 2010;59:277-283.
22. Whitehouse C, Kesterson K, Duncan D, Eshoo M, Wolcott M. Identification and characterization of Francisella species from natural warm springs in Utah, USA. Lett Appl Microbio 2012;54:313-324.
23. Shabbir MZ, Jamil T, Ali AA, Ahmad A, Naeem M, Chaudhary MH, et al. Prevalence and distribution of soil-borne zoonotic pathogens in Lahore district of Pakistan. Front Microbiol 2015;6:917.
24. Gurcan S, Karabay O, Karadenizli A, Karagol C, Kantardjiev T, Ivanov IN. Characteristics of the Turkish isolates of Francisella tularensis. Jpn J Infect Dis 2008;61:223-235.
25. Forsman M, Henningson EW, Larsson E, Johansson T, Sandström G. Francisella tularensis does not manifest virulence in viable but non-culturable state. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 2000; 31: 217-224.
26. Meibom KL, Charbit A. Francisella tularensis metabolism and its relation to virulence. Front Microbiol 2010;1:140.
27. Ramamurthy T, Ghosh A, Pazhani GP, Shinoda S. Current perspectives on viable but non-culturable (VBNC) pathogenic bacteria. Front Public Health 2014;2:103.
28. El-Etr SH, Margolis JJ, Monack D, Robison RA, Cohen M, Moore E, et al. Francisella tularensis type A strains cause the rapid encystment of Acanthamoeba castellanii and survive in amoebal cysts for three weeks
postinfection. Appl Environ Microbiol 2009;75:7488-7500.
29. Evstigneeva A, Raoult D, Karpachevskiy L, La Scola B. Amoeba co-culture of soil specimens recovered 33 different bacteria, including four new species and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Microbiology 2009;155:657-664.
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 11 No 1 (2019) | |
| Section | Original Article(s) | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.18502/ijm.v11i1.699 | |
| Keywords | ||
| Tularemia Environmental sample Real-time polymerase chain reaction Francisella | ||
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How to Cite
1.
Rohani M, Hashemi Shahraki A, Ghasemi A, Esmaeili S, Karadenizli A, Mostafavi E. The prevalence of Francisella spp. in different natural surface water samples collected from northwest of Iran. Iran J Microbiol. 2019;11(1):19-24.
