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Pathogens
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Surveillance and Control of Foodborne Pathogens
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Surveillance and Control of Foodborne Pathogens

A special issue of Pathogens (ISSN 2076-0817).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2023) | Viewed by 6287

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Csaba Varga

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61802, USA
Interests: foodborne diseases; antimicrobial resistance; spatial epidemiology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Foodborne diseases pose a substantial health burden to human populations worldwide. Despite consistent efforts of public health stakeholders in reducing the health impact of foodborne bacterial (e.g., Salmonella sp., Campylobacter sp., Listeria, and E. coli), viral (e.g., Norovirus, and Hepatitis A), and parasitic (e.g., Cyclospora sp., Cryptosporidium sp., and Trichinella sp.) pathogens, substantial work remains to better understand their incidence, risk factors, and spatial and temporal distribution. Moreover, the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in foodborne bacterial pathogens is increasing worldwide, which has become a serious public health and animal health concern. Since humans and animals share the same ecosystem, there is a need for a One Health approach to identify novel exposure sources at the human–animal–environment interface.

Surveillance systems are vital to detect disease outbreaks, monitor the disease status of populations, and identify emerging trends to support public health authorities in implementing effective disease control measures. With the increase in spatial epidemiological resources and disease mapping, as well as the emergence of novel molecular epidemiological methods (e.g., whole-genome sequencing), the time arrived to showcase these tools’ effectiveness in preventing and controlling foodborne infections.

In this Special Issue, we aim to provide a platform for public health and animal health researchers to showcase their research on the surveillance and epidemiology of foodborne pathogens in humans and animals. We encourage you to send original research articles, communications, short notes, or review articles.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to: 

  • Foodborne disease outbreak detection methods;
  • Surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in foodborne pathogens;
  • Molecular epidemiology of foodborne pathogens (i.e., whole-genome sequencing);
  • Disease mapping and identifying local disease clusters;
  • Integrating foodborne disease surveillance data with auxiliary socioeconomic, environmental, agricultural, and climate data to identify novel risk factors.

I look forward to your contribution that will help public health stakeholders in mitigating the health burden of foodborne diseases.

Dr. Csaba Varga
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pathogens is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Salmonella
  • Campylobacter
  • Listeria
  • E. coli
  • antimicrobial resistance
  • food safety
  • foodborne disease surveillance
  • spatial epidemiology
  • outbreak investigations
  • whole-genome sequencing

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

27 pages, 3752 KiB  
Article
Synergistic Strategies of Heat and Peroxyacetic Acid Disinfection Treatments for Salmonella Control
by Olja Šovljanski, Aleksandra Ranitović, Ana Tomić, Nenad Ćetković, Ana Miljković, Anja Saveljić and Dragoljub Cvetković
Pathogens 2023, 12(11), 1336; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12111336 - 9 Nov 2023
Viewed by 785
Abstract
The food industry has recognized a pressing need for highly effective disinfection protocols to decrease the risk of pathogen emergence and proliferation in food products. The integration of antimicrobial treatments in food production has occurred as a potential strategy to attain food items [...] Read more.
The food industry has recognized a pressing need for highly effective disinfection protocols to decrease the risk of pathogen emergence and proliferation in food products. The integration of antimicrobial treatments in food production has occurred as a potential strategy to attain food items of superior quality with respect to microbiological safety and sensory attributes. This study aims to investigate the individual and synergistic effects of heat and peroxyacetic acid on the inactivation of bacterial cells, considering various contact times and environmental conditions. Four Salmonella serotypes, isolated from industrial meat production surfaces, were employed as model organisms. By systematically assessing the impacts of individual factors and synergistic outcomes, the effectiveness of bacterial cell inactivation and the efficiency of heat and peroxyacetic acid could be predicted. To better approximate real-world food processing conditions, this study also incorporated a bovine albumin-rich condition as a simulation of the presence of organic loads in processing steps. The findings revealed the essential need for a synergistic interplay of investigated parameters with the following optimized values: 1.5% concentration of peroxyacetic acid, temperature range of 60–65 °C, and contact time of 3 min for the complete effect regardless of the degree of contamination. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Surveillance and Control of Foodborne Pathogens)
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16 pages, 1692 KiB  
Article
Resistance Profiles and Virulence Determinants in Biofilm-Forming Enterococcus faecium Isolated from Raw Seafood in Bangladesh
by Md. Ashek Ullah, Md. Saiful Islam, Md. Liton Rana, Farhana Binte Ferdous, Fahim Haque Neloy, Zannatul Firdous, Jayedul Hassan and Md. Tanvir Rahman
Pathogens 2023, 12(9), 1101; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12091101 - 28 Aug 2023
Viewed by 1982
Abstract
Pathogenic, antibiotic-resistant, and biofilm-forming bacteria can be transferred to humans through the consumption of contaminated seafood. The present study was carried out to determine antibiotic resistance profiles and virulence determinants in biofilm-forming Enterococcus faecium isolated from seafood in Bangladesh. A total of 150 [...] Read more.
Pathogenic, antibiotic-resistant, and biofilm-forming bacteria can be transferred to humans through the consumption of contaminated seafood. The present study was carried out to determine antibiotic resistance profiles and virulence determinants in biofilm-forming Enterococcus faecium isolated from seafood in Bangladesh. A total of 150 seafood samples, including shrimp (n = 50), crabs (n = 25), and marine fish (n = 75), were screened using cultural, staining, biochemical, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), Congo red (CR), and disk diffusion (DD) assays. In PCR, E. faecium was detected in 27.3% (41/150; CI95% 20.8; 34.9) of samples, where marine fish (34.7%, CI95% 24.9; 45.9) had the highest prevalence (p < 0.05) compared to crabs (32%, CI95% 17.2; 51.6) and shrimp (14%, CI95% 7.0; 26.1). Thirty-two (78.1%, CI95% 63.3; 88.0) of the E. faecium isolates were determined to be biofilm formers in the CR test, where 43.9% (18/41, CI95% 29.9; 59.0) and 34.2% (14/41, CI95% 21.6; 49.5) of the isolates were strong and intermediate biofilm formers, respectively. In PCR, virulence genes, i.e., pil (100%), ace (92.7%), agg (68.3%), fsrA (65.9%), gelE (63.4%), sprE (53.7%), fsrB (51.2%), and fsrC (43.9%), were detected in E. faecium isolates. All the E. faecium isolates were phenotypically resistant to ≥3 antimicrobial categories and ≥3 antibiotics, including WHO-classified reserve antibiotics linezolid (70.7%) and fosfomycin (19.5%). Moreover, the multiple antibiotic resistance index ranged up to 0.8, showing resistance to ten antibiotics and eight antibiotic classes. In this study, the prevalence of virulence genes and antibiotic resistance was significantly greater (p < 0.05) in strong biofilm-forming E. faecium strains as compared to strains with intermediate and non-biofilm-forming abilities. As far as we know, this study, for the first time in Bangladesh, determined antibiotic resistance and detected virulence genes in biofilm-forming E. faecium isolated from seafood samples. The data from this study could play a significant role in evaluating potential health hazards linked to the ingestion of uncooked or minimally processed seafood. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Surveillance and Control of Foodborne Pathogens)
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13 pages, 1674 KiB  
Article
Estimating the Prevalence of Foodborne Pathogen Campylobacter jejuni in Chicken and Its Control via Sorghum Extracts
by Gamal M. Hamad, Mariam Gerges, Taha Mehany, Saleh M. Hussein, Michael Eskander, Rasha G. Tawfik, Yasser El-Halmouch, Alaa M. Mansour, Elsayed E. Hafez, Tuba Esatbeyoglu and Eman M. Elghazaly
Pathogens 2023, 12(7), 958; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12070958 - 20 Jul 2023
Viewed by 1231
Abstract
Campylobacter jejuni is a Gram-negative bacterium which is considered as the most reported cause of foodborne infection, especially for poultry species. The object of this work is to evaluate the occurrence of C. jejuni in chicken meat as well its control via three [...] Read more.
Campylobacter jejuni is a Gram-negative bacterium which is considered as the most reported cause of foodborne infection, especially for poultry species. The object of this work is to evaluate the occurrence of C. jejuni in chicken meat as well its control via three types of sorghum extracts (white sorghum (WS), yellow sorghum (YS), and red sorghum (RS)); antibacterial activity, antioxidant power, and cytotoxicity of sorghum extracts were also assessed. It was found that C. jejuni is very abundant in chicken meat, especially breast and thigh. WS extract showed more effectiveness than both yellow and red ones. Lyophilized WS extract offered high total phenolic compounds (TPCs) and total flavonoid compounds (TFCs) of 64.2 ± 0.8 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE/g) and 33.9 ± 0.4 mg catechol equivalent (CE)/g, respectively. Concerning the antibacterial and antioxidant activities, WS showed high and significant antibacterial activity (p < 0.001); hence, WS displayed a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 6.25%, and revealed an inhibition zone of 7.8 ± 0.3 mm; it also showed an IC50 at a concentration of 34.6 μg/mL. In our study, different samples of chicken fillet were collected and inoculated with pathogenic C. jejuni and stored at 4 °C. Inoculated samples were treated with lyophilized WS extract at (2%, 4%, and 6%), the 2% treatment showed a full reduction in C. jejuni on the 10th day, the 4% treatment showed a full reduction in C. jejuni on the 8th day, while the 6% treatment showed a full reduction in C. jejuni on the 6th day. Additionally, 2%, 4%, and 6% WS extracts were applied on un-inoculated grilled chicken fillet, which enhanced its sensory attributes. In sum, WS extract is a promising natural preservative for chicken meat with accepted sensory evaluation results thanks to its high antibacterial and antioxidant potentials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Surveillance and Control of Foodborne Pathogens)
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13 pages, 315 KiB  
Article
Genomic Characterization of Fecal Escherichia coli Isolates with Reduced Susceptibility to Beta-Lactam Antimicrobials from Wild Hogs and Coyotes
by Babafela Awosile, Jason Fritzler, Gizem Levent, Md. Kaisar Rahman, Samuel Ajulo, Ian Daniel, Yamima Tasnim and Sumon Sarkar
Pathogens 2023, 12(7), 929; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12070929 - 11 Jul 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1601
Abstract
This study was carried out to determine the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes and mobile genetic elements of 16 Escherichia coli isolates—with reduced susceptibility to ceftazidime and imipenem—that were recovered from the fecal samples of coyotes and wild hogs from West Texas, USA. Whole-genome [...] Read more.
This study was carried out to determine the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes and mobile genetic elements of 16 Escherichia coli isolates—with reduced susceptibility to ceftazidime and imipenem—that were recovered from the fecal samples of coyotes and wild hogs from West Texas, USA. Whole-genome sequencing data analyses revealed distinct isolates with a unique sequence type and serotype designation. Among 16 isolates, 4 isolates were multidrug resistant, and 5 isolates harbored at least 1 beta-lactamase gene (blaCMY-2, blaCTX-M-55, or blaCTX-M-27) that confers resistance to beta-lactam antimicrobials. Several isolates carried genes conferring resistance to tetracyclines (tet(A), tet(B), and tet(C)), aminoglycosides (aac(3)-IId, ant(3″)-Ia, aph(3′)-Ia, aph(3″)-lb, aadA5, and aph(6)-ld), sulfonamides (sul1, sul2, and sul3), amphenicol (floR), trimethoprim (dfrA1 and dfrA17), and macrolide, lincosamide, and streptogramin B (MLSB) agents (Inu(F), erm(B), and mph(A)). Nine isolates showed chromosomal mutations in the promoter region G of ampC beta-lactamase gene, while three isolates showed mutations in gyrA, parC, and parE quinolone resistance-determining regions, which confer resistance to quinolones. We also detected seven incompatibility plasmid groups, with incF being the most common. Different types of virulence genes were detected, including those that enhance bacterial fitness and pathogenicity. One blaCMY-2 positive isolate (O8:H28) from a wild hog was also a Shiga toxin-producing E. coli and was a carrier of the stx2A virulence toxin subtype. We report the detection of blaCMY-2, blaCTX-M-55, and blaCTX-M-27 beta-lactamase genes in E. coli from coyotes for the first time. This study demonstrates the importance of wildlife as reservoirs of important multi-drug-resistant bacteria and provides information for future comparative genomic analysis with the limited literature on antimicrobial resistance dynamics in wildlife such as coyotes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Surveillance and Control of Foodborne Pathogens)
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