Journal
CLINICAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Volume 63, Issue 3, Pages 380-386Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciw242
Keywords
Listeria monocytogenes; DNA sequencing; outbreaks; foodborne diseases
Categories
Funding
- CDC's Advanced Molecular Detection Initiative
- CDC [U60HM000803]
- FDA
- USDA-FSIS
- National Institute for Biotechnology Information
- NIH, National Library of Medicine
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) causes severe foodborne illness (listeriosis). Previous molecular subtyping methods, such as pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), were critical in detecting outbreaks that led to food safety improvements and declining incidence, but PFGE provides limited genetic resolution. A multiagency collaboration began performing real-time, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) on all US Lm isolates from patients, food, and the environment in September 2013, posting sequencing data into a public repository. Compared with the year before the project began, WGS, combined with epidemiologic and product trace-back data, detected more listeriosis clusters and solved more outbreaks (2 outbreaks in pre-WGS year, 5 in WGS year 1, and 9 in year 2). Whole-genome multilocus sequence typing and single nucleotide polymorphism analyses provided equivalent phylogenetic relationships relevant to investigations; results were most useful when interpreted in context of epidemiological data. WGS has transformed listeriosis outbreak surveillance and is being implemented for other foodborne pathogens.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available