LISTERIA AND ENVIRONMENT

Besides animals and humans, soil, water and vegetation all closely related to agricultural activities, are also carriers and reservoirs ofL. monocytogenes(Moshtaghiet al., 2003) (Figure 2.13.1). Lyauteyet al.

(2007) found a statistically significant link between the occurrence ofL. monocytogenes and proximity to an upstream dairy farm and the degree of cropped land indicatingL. monocytogenespervasiveness in these catchments.

Soil amended with fertilizers (primarily containing N and P) was shown to support and enhance the growth ofL. monocytogenesin brown podzol soils in Russia (Sidorenko and Buzelova, 2008) while the presence of herbicides (e.g. simazine or picloram at 1–100 mg/L) in water samples enhanced the growth of L. monocytogenes while inhibiting Pseudomonas and Aeromonas, known as saprophytic pollution eliminators bacteria (Karaeva, 1988). Synthetic and mineral-oil based lubricants used in food industry were also shown to supportL. monocytogenes’growth, survival and spread (Aarnisloet al., 2007).

In a study on fish farms in Finland tested for presence ofL. monocytogenes, sea bottom soil samples were the ones that preserved theL. monocytogenescontamination for prolonged periods of time (Miettinen and Wirtanen, 2006) particularly at low temperatures (L. monocytogenescan grow at very low temperatures:

1.7+0.5°C and a broad range of pH values: 4.4 to 9.6) (Junttilaet al., 1988).

2.13.1SelecteddataonL.monocytogenesprevalenceinvariousenvironmentsofdifferentcountries,revealingits distribution. /Source%of samplesReferenceCountry/Source%ofsamplesReference Cow-calf cows3.1Mohammed etal.(2010)India:Soilagriculturalareas17.5Moshtaghietal. (2003) 3.75Soilanimal-inhabitedarea18 animalsfeces2.5Canada:Surfacewaters10Lyauteyetal. (2007) 5.3USA:urbanenvironment7.5Saudersetal., (2006) 5.3Naturalenvironment1.4 pointat ditch0Netherland:Surfacewaters(canals,lakes, ditches,sewage21Dijkstra(1982) from ditch14.3Finland:fishfarmsandsurroundings(e.g.,sea bottomsoil)18.4Miettinen,H.& Wirtanen, G.(2006) troughs3.1Germany:Soilsurface8.7–51.4Weisand Seelinger(1975) fromponds6.5Soilat10cmdepth3.2–33.3 OperationPlants9.7–44 0.3Scotland,UK:silage2.5–44Fenlon,(1985, 1999) 0.7Brazil:urbanrivercontaminatedwithdomestic sewageandsurfacerun-offfromagricultural andcattlegrazinglands

35–100Ceballosetal. (2003) bunk2.5 trough0.8 1.7

Environmental Aspects of Zoonotic Diseases 88

Perhaps the major source of contamination attributed to its geographical widespread distribution is water resources with diverse qualities. Combarro et al. (1997) studying a sewage treatment plant’s capability to remove L. monocytogenes found that the removal rate of 92% (in accordance with EEC regulations) was insufficient and levels of this pathogen increased in the downstream of an adjacent river. A sheep meningo-encephalithis was reported in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia caused by L.

monocytogenes. This outbreak incident followed a period of continuous heavy rain and flooding of grazing pasture while the majority of affected flocks were located on poorly drained coastal sandy soil (Vandegraaffet al., 1981).

Girardinet al.(2005) under field conditions studiedL. innocuaas a surrogate for the survival and transfer ofL. monocytogenesin soil and on parsley leaves (as a result of rain or irrigation splash). Leaf contamination was expected as a result of rain and irrigation of fields amended with contaminated fertilizers (i.e., manure).

At 20°C, the decline rates in soil were comparable for the two strains (L. innocuaandL. monocytogenes) resulting in a decline of 7 log cycles in 90 days with a minute numbers on leaves. Improved survival was observed in winter with direct leaf contamination by spray (with bacterial low content soil) lacking internalization ofL. monocytogenes in roots. Here it should be pointed out that a recent study revealed internalization ofSalmonella entericain leaves through open stomata (Kroupitskiet al., 2010) that may hint at possible internalization by Listeriatoo, through its motility, surface polysaccharides involved in adhesion to soil (Abu-Lailet al., 2007) and persistence in poorly ripened silage of corn, grass, rye, oats and legumes (Ryser et al., 1997; Driehuis and Oude Elferink, 2000). Regrowth capability of L.

monocytogenes was also shown in extracts of dairy-based composts under different environmental conditions (Kimet al., 2009).

Figure 2.13.1. Environmental factors involved in the maintenance and infection ofL.monocytogenes

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2.13.2 REFERENCES

Aarnisalo, K., Raaska, L. & Wirtanen, G. (2007) Survival and growth ofListeria monocytogenesin lubricants used in the food industry.Food Control18, 1019–1025.

Abu-Lail, N.I. & Park, B-J. (2007) Molecular mechanisms of Listeria monocytogenes’ adherence to soil through surface biopolymers. Abstracts of Papers, 234th ACS National Meeting, Boston, MA, United States, August 19–23, 2007.

Ceballos, B.S.O., Soares, N.E., Moraes, M.R., Catão, R.M.R. & Konig, A. (2003) Microbiological aspects of an urban river used for unrestricted irrigation in the semi-arid region of north-east Brazil.Water Sci. Technol.47, 51–57.

Combarro, M.P., González, M., Araujo, M., Amezaga, A.C., Sueiro, R.A. & Garrido, M.J. (1997)Listeriaspecies incidence and characterization in a river receiving town sewage from a sewage treatment plant.Water Sci. Tech.

35, 201–204.

Dijkstra, R.G. (1982) The occurrence ofListeria monocytogenesin surface waters of canals and lakes, in ditches of one big polder and in the effluents of canals of a sewage treatment plant.Zentralbl Bacteriol [Orig. B]176, 202–205.

Driehuis, F. & Oude Elferink, S.J.W.H. (2000) The impact of the quality of silage on animal health and food safety: a review.Vet Q22, 212–216.

Fenlon, D.R. (1985) Wild birds and silage as reservoirs ofListeriain the agricultural environment.J Appl Bacteriol59, 537–543.

Fenlon, D.R. (1999)Listeria monocytogenesin the natural environment. In Ryser, E.T. (ed.): Animals inListeria, Listeriosis, and Food Safety. New York: Dekker, pp. 21–37.

Girardin, H., Morris, C.E., Albagnac, C., Dreux, N., Glaux, C. & Nguyen-The, C. (2005) Behaviour of the pathogen surrogatesListeria innocuaand Clostridium sporogenes during production of parsley in fields fertilized with contaminated amendments.FEMS Microbiol. Ecol.54, 287–295.

Ivanek, R., Gröhn, Y.T. & Wiedmann, M. (2006)Listeria monocytogenesin multiple habitats and host populations:

review of available data for mathematical modeling.Foodborne Pathog. Dis.3, 319–336.

Junttila, J.R., Niemela, S.I. & Hirn, J. (1988) Minimum growth temperatures of Listeria monocytogenes and non-haemolytic Listeria.J. Appl. Bacteriol.65, 321–327.

Karaeva, N. Yu. (1988) Effects of herbicides on the species structure of the microflora in bodies of water.Gig Sanit9, 70–71.

Kim, J., Shepherd, M.W. Jr. & Jiang, X. (2009) Evaluating the Effect of Environmental Factors on Pathogen Regrowth in Compost Extract.Microb. Ecol.58, 498–508.

Kroupitski, Y., Golberg, D., Belausov, E., Pinto, R., Swartzberg, D.et al.(2009) Internalization ofSalmonella enterica in leaves is induced by light and involves chemotaxis and penetration through open stomata.Appl. Environ.

Microbiol.75, 6076–6086.

Lyautey, E., Lapen,D.R., Wilkes,G., McCleary, K., Pagotto, F.et al.(2007) Distribution and characteristics ofListeria monocytogenesisolates from surface waters of the South Nation river watershed, Ontario, Canada.Appl. Environ.

Microbiol.73, 5401–5410.

Miettinen, H. & Wirtanen, G. (2006) Ecology of Listeria spp. in a fish farm and molecular typing of Listeria monocytogenesfrom fish farming and processing companies.Int. J. Food Microbiol.112, 138–146.

Mohammed, H.O., Atwill, E., Dunbar, L., Ward, T., McDonough, P.et al.(2010) The risk ofListeria monocytogenes infection in beef cattle operations.J. Appl. Microbiol.108, 349–356.

Moshtaghi, H., Garg, S.R. & Mandokhot Usha, V. (2003) Prevalence of Listeria in soil.Indian J. Exp. Biol. 41, 1466–1468.

Ramaswamy, V., Cresence, V.M., Rejitha, J.S., Lekshmi, M.U., Dharsana, K.S.et al.(2007)Listeria- review of epidemiology and pathogenesis.J Microbiol Immunol Infect.40, 4–13.

Ryser, E.T., Arimi, S.M. & Donnelly, C.W. (1997) Effects of pH on distribution ofListeriaribotypes in corn, hay, and –

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Sidorenko, M.L. & Buzoleva, L.S. (2008) Effects of different mineral fertilizers on the reproduction of Listeria monocytogenesin soils.Agrokhimiya5, 59–64.

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Chapter 2.14 Melioidosis

[BURKHOLDERIA PSEUDOMALLEI]

Burkholderia pseudomallei is a motile, aerobic, gram-negative rod shaped bacteria closely related toB.

mallei (genus Burkholderia) that causes disease in animals, humans and even plants (Ketterer et al., 1975; Leeet al., 2010). The main disease in humans is melioidosis that manifests itself as abscesses with lymphangitis, high fever, malaise, acute septicemia, acute pulmonary infection and death.