Abstract Globally, V. parahaemolyticus is the most prevalent food-poisoning bacterium associated with seafood consumption. To date, the epidemiology of Vibrio parahaemolyticus infections in the UK has remained unexplored. Here we analysed archived V. parahaemolyticus strains isolated from domestic infections and travellers into the UK from 2008 to 2018 and who had submitted clinical samples to Public Health England (PHE)'s Gastrointestinal Bacteria Reference Unit. A total of 48 strains were retrieved from the PHE strain collection, confirmatory tested by PCR and analysed by genome-wide phylogeny using a global collection of genomes with representative strains from the major epidemic clones. Most reported infections entering the UK originated from travellers returning from Southeast Asia, however cases were also reported to have potentially originated from the USA, Cuba, India, Turkey, Caribbean, France, Slovenia and also within the UK, highlighting the wide geographical spread of infections. A large genetic diversity of V. parahaemolyticus strains was observed, with sequence type 3 (ST3; pandemic group) strains the most common sequence type (23 of the 48 analysed strains, 47.9%). The majority of strains were tdh positive (25/48, 71%), with 5 isolates positive for both haemolysin genes (tdh and trh), with 2 isolates trh positive only (5.7%). Six isolates did not possess either haemolysin gene. We demonstrate that whole genome sequencing can be effective to type certain human pathogens entering a traditionally considered “non-endemic” county and this was captured via passive epidemiological surveillance systems. Such approaches may potentially provide a useful snapshot of the diversity of a given pathogen group circulating worldwide.

中文翻译：

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2008-2018 年英国家庭和旅行相关的副溶血性弧菌感染的基因组流行病学

摘要 在全球范围内，副溶血性弧菌是与海鲜消费相关的最普遍的食物中毒细菌。迄今为止，英国副溶血性弧菌感染的流行病学仍未得到探索。在这里，我们分析了从 2008 年至 2018 年从国内感染者和进入英国的旅行者中分离出的存档副溶血性弧菌菌株，这些菌株已向英国公共卫生部 (PHE) 的胃肠道细菌参考部门提交了临床样本。从 PHE 菌株集合中检索出总共 48 个菌株，通过 PCR 进行验证性测试，并使用来自主要流行克隆的代表性菌株的全球基因组集合进行全基因组系统发育分析。大多数报告的进入英国的感染来自从东南亚返回的旅行者，然而，据报道，病例也可能起源于美国、古巴、印度、土耳其、加勒比海、法国、斯洛文尼亚以及英国境内，突出了感染的广泛地域传播。观察到副溶血性弧菌菌株的大量遗传多样性，其中序列类型 3（ST3；大流行组）菌株是最常见的序列类型（48 个分析菌株中的 23 个，47.9%）。大多数菌株为 tdh 阳性 (25/48, 71%)，5 个分离株对两种溶血素基因（tdh 和 trh）均呈阳性，只有 2 个分离株为 trh 阳性（5.7%）。六个分离株不具有溶血素基因。我们证明全基因组测序可以有效地对进入传统上被认为是“非地方性”县的某些人类病原体进行分型，这是通过被动流行病学监测系统捕获的。