Cryptosporidium parvum genotype IIa and Giardia duodenalis assemblage A in Mytilus galloprovincialis on sale at local food markets
Introduction
Seafood is a major part of the culinary culture in many countries around the world, and the shellfish industry is of major economic importance in the Mediterranean area with the highest production along the coasts of Italy, Spain and France.
In Italy, current estimates indicate that 203,810 and 131,000 tonnes of fish and shellfish, respectively, are processed each year (Ismea, 2012). The most commonly farmed shellfish for human consumption is Mytilus galloprovincialis (Mediterranean mussel), followed by Ruditapes philippinarum (Manila clams). In 2011, mussel production was estimated at 98,000 tonnes (including mussels from natural benches), with > 80% of the production plants located in the southern Italian regions (Ismea, 2012). Forty-six percent of consumers prefer mussels to other types of shellfish, and they are sold in street markets also in the south of Italy.
Excreta from humans and other animals are a source of a plethora of microorganisms, which are dispersed directly or, for example, via rainfall-initiated run-off from agricultural, suburban and urban lands, wastewater into rivers, streams, estuaries and coastal waters, thus contaminating the sea and its inhabitants. Bivalves filter large volumes of water and consequently can accumulate and retain particles and microorganisms; some of these organisms can be pathogenic and thus represent a potential risk to human health, particularly if eaten raw (EFSA, 2012). Pathogens of most concern in shellfish are viruses (e.g., norovirus, hepatitis A virus), bacteria (e.g., pathogenic Escherichia coli, Campylobacter jejuni, Salmonella spp., Vibrio vulnificus, Vibrio cholerae and Vibrio parahaemoliticus) and protozoans (including Cryptosporidium, Cyclospora, Giardia and Toxoplasma), particularly in young, old and/or immuno-compromised or -suppressed people (WHO, 2010).
A number of studies have shown that Cryptosporidium and Giardia are present worldwide in shellfish farmed or naturally present in lagoons and other marine environments. Several edible and inedible shellfish have been found to carry Cryptosporidium parvum (Gómez-Bautista et al., 2000, Fayer et al., 2002, Fayer et al., 2003, Gómez-Couso et al., 2004, Gómez-Couso et al., 2006a, Gómez-Couso et al., 2006b, Miller et al., 2005, Giangaspero et al., 2005, Li et al., 2006, Graczyk et al., 2007, Molini et al., 2007), whereas Giardia duodenalis assemblage A has only been reported to occur in inedible shellfish species (Graczyk et al., 1999a), although its precise identity and link to enteric disease (outbreaks) in humans had not been unequivocally established at the time.
In spite of the major public health importance of these protists and their potential to cause zoonotic disease (Giangaspero et al., 2007, Xiao and Fayer, 2008), there has been no global study to establish the specific and/or genotypic identities of Cryptosporidium and Giardia found in shellfish. To date, Cryptosporidium hominis (subgenotypes IbA10G2R2, IbA9G3R2, IeA11G3T3R1), C. parvum (subgenotypes IIaA16G2R1, IIaA19G3R1, IIcA5G3R2) and G. duodenalis (assemblages A and B) have been reported to be commonly associated with human cryptosporidiosis (Xiao and Fayer, 2008, Jex et al., 2008, Jex and Gasser, 2010); these assemblages are identified mostly using PCR-based techniques employing various genetic markers (Chalmers et al., 2005, Plutzer and Karanis, 2009, Bouzid et al., 2010, Putignani and Menichella, 2010, Feng and Xiao, 2011). For Cryptosporidium, the SSU, hsp70 and/or 60 kDa glycoprotein (gp60) genes have been used for specific, genotypic and/or subgenotypic identification (Jex et al., 2007, Widmer, 2009, Nolan et al., 2010, Nolan et al., 2013). For Giardia, markers in the β-giardin, tpi, gdh and/or SSU genes are most commonly used for identification to species and/or assemblages (Giangaspero et al., 2007). In the present study, we employed PCR-based sequencing of gp60 and tpi and β-giardin to genetically classify Cryptosporidium and Giardia, respectively, from M. galloprovincialis from local markets in a locality in south-eastern Italy.
Section snippets
Samples, and isolation of genomic DNA from mussels
Mussels (M. galloprovincialis) were purchased at ten different time points from each of three markets (I, II, and III) in the city of Foggia (41°28′0″N 15°34′0″E) at intervals of 6–10 days from May to December 2012, a period of time, which corresponds to the mussel commercialization (www.coopmare.com/public/relazioni/041245_RelFinale_Miglioramento%20mitili.pdf) in Southern Italy. At each time point, 500 g of mussels was purchased from one market, refrigerated at 5 °C and taken to the laboratory
Results
Under the present PCR conditions, there was no evidence of an inhibitory effect of molluscan components on enzymatic amplification for any of the samples tested. Sixty batches of 15 mussels each were obtained for a total of 30 samplings. Overall, 40 of 60 (66.7%) samples were PCR test-positive for Cryptosporidium, Giardia, or both Cryptosporidium and Giardia (Table 1). Cryptosporidium was detected in 34 of 60 (56.7%) samples, and was significantly more common in markets II and III than market
Discussion
This is the first published report of C. parvum IIa (subgenotypes IIaA15G2R1, IIa15G2 and IIaA14G3R1) and G. duodenalis assemblage A in edible shellfish, particularly very commonly consumed M. galloprovincialis in highly frequented daily fish markets in a city context. These potentially zoonotic protists (Cryptosporidium and Giardia) were detected in 66.7% of the 60 samples of mussels overall tested, with genotype IIa, assemblage A and both being identified in 60%, 23.3% and 6.6% of these,
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Antonio Narducci and Raffaella Terlizzi for their laboratory assistance and Professor Giovanni Normanno for the helpful discussions on food inspection. RBG's laboratory is currently funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Other support from Melbourne Water Corporation and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation is gratefully acknowledged (RBG).
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