In this study, water samples were analyzed from a rural area of North Carolina after Hurricane Florence in 2018 and the distribution of the ttrC virulence gene of Salmonella enterica were investigated. We also examined the distribution of culturable S. enterica and determined their antibiotic resistance profiles. Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the classes of aminoglycoside, beta‐lactam, and macrolide‐lincosamide‐streptogramin B (MLSB) were targeted in this study. The ttrC gene was detected in 23 out of 25 locations. There was a wider and higher range of the ttrC gene in flooded water versus unflooded water samples (0–2.12 × 10⁵ copies/L vs. 0–4.86 × 10⁴ copies/L). Culturable S. enterica was isolated from 10 of 25 sampling locations, which was less prevalent than the distribution of the ttrC gene. The antibiotic resistance profiles were not distinct among the S. enterica isolates. The aminoglycoside resistance gene aac(6')‐Iy had the highest relative abundance (around 0.05 copies/16S rRNA gene copy in all isolates) among all ARGs. These findings suggested that the 2018 flooding event led to higher copy numbers of the ttrC genes of S. enterica in some flooded water bodies compared to those in unflooded water bodies. The high ARG level and similar ARG profiles were observed in all S. enterica isolates from both flooded and unflooded samples, suggesting that the antibiotic resistance was prevalent in S. enterica within this region, regardless of flooding.

中文翻译：

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2018年佛罗伦萨飓风后北卡罗来纳州农村地区肠道沙门氏菌的分布和抗生素耐药性概况

在这项研究中，对 2018 年佛罗伦萨飓风后北卡罗来纳州农村地区的水样进行了分析，并调查了肠道沙门氏菌ttrC毒力基因的分布。我们还检查了可培养肠沙门氏菌的分布并确定了它们的抗生素耐药性概况。本研究的目标是氨基糖苷类、β-内酰胺类和大环内酯-林可酰胺-链阳菌素 B (MLSB) 类抗生素抗性基因 (ARG)。在 25 个位置中的 23 个位置检测到了ttrC基因。与未淹没的水样相比，淹没的水样中ttrC基因的范围更广、更高（0–2.12 × 10 ⁵拷贝/L 与 0–4.86 × 10 ⁴拷贝/L）。从 25 个采样点中的 10 个中分离出了可培养的肠沙门氏菌，其分布率低于ttrC基因的分布。肠沙门氏菌分离株之间的抗生素耐药性特征并不明显。在所有 ARG 中，氨基糖苷类耐药基因aac(6')-Iy的相对丰度最高（所有分离株中约为 0.05 个拷贝/16S rRNA 基因拷贝）。这些发现表明，2018 年洪水事件导致一些洪水水体中肠沙门氏菌ttrC基因的拷贝数高于未洪水水体中的拷贝数。在来自淹水和未淹水样品的所有肠沙门氏菌分离株中均观察到高 ARG 水平和相似的 ARG 谱，表明无论淹水情况如何，该地区肠沙门氏菌普遍存在抗生素耐药性。