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Agricultural fertilization with poultry manure results in persistent environmental contamination with the pathogen Clostridioides difficile

Martinique Frentrup, Nadine Thiel, Vera Junker, Wiebke Behrens, Steffen Münch, Paul Siller, Tina Kabelitz, Matthias Faust, Alexander Indra, Stefanie Baumgartner, Kerstin Schepanski, Thomas Amon, Uwe Roesler, Roger Funk, View ORCID ProfileUlrich Nübel
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.01.429155
Martinique Frentrup
1Leibniz-Institute DSMZ - German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Braunschweig, Germany
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Nadine Thiel
1Leibniz-Institute DSMZ - German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Braunschweig, Germany
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Vera Junker
1Leibniz-Institute DSMZ - German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Braunschweig, Germany
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Wiebke Behrens
1Leibniz-Institute DSMZ - German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Braunschweig, Germany
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Steffen Münch
2Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Müncheberg, Germany
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Paul Siller
3Institute for Animal Hygiene and Environmental Health (ITU), Free University Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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Tina Kabelitz
4Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB), Potsdam, Germany
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Matthias Faust
5Leibniz-Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS), Leipzig, Germany
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Alexander Indra
6AGES-Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, Vienna, Austria
7Paracelsus Medical University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
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Stefanie Baumgartner
6AGES-Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, Vienna, Austria
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Kerstin Schepanski
5Leibniz-Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS), Leipzig, Germany
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Thomas Amon
3Institute for Animal Hygiene and Environmental Health (ITU), Free University Berlin, Berlin, Germany
4Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB), Potsdam, Germany
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Uwe Roesler
3Institute for Animal Hygiene and Environmental Health (ITU), Free University Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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Roger Funk
2Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Müncheberg, Germany
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Ulrich Nübel
1Leibniz-Institute DSMZ - German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Braunschweig, Germany
8German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Braunschweig-Hannover, Braunschweig, Germany
9Braunschweig Integrated Center of Systems Biology (BRICS), Technical University, Braunschweig, Germany
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  • ORCID record for Ulrich Nübel
  • For correspondence: ulrich.nuebel@dsmz.de
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Summary

During a field experiment applying broiler manure for fertilization of agricultural land, we detected viable Clostridioides (formerly, Clostridium) difficile in broiler feces, manure, dust, and fertilized soil. A large diversity of toxigenic C. difficile isolates was recovered, including PCR ribotypes common from human disease. Genomic relatedness of C. difficile isolates from dust and from soil, recovered more than two years after fertilization, traced their origins to the specific chicken farm that had delivered the manure. We present evidence of long-term contamination of agricultural soil with manure-derived C. difficile and demonstrate the potential for airborne dispersal of C. difficile through dust emissions during manure application. Clostridioides genome sequences virtually identical to those from manure had been recovered from chicken meat and from human infections in previous studies, suggesting broiler-associated C. difficile are capable of zoonotic transmission.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted February 02, 2021.
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Agricultural fertilization with poultry manure results in persistent environmental contamination with the pathogen Clostridioides difficile
Martinique Frentrup, Nadine Thiel, Vera Junker, Wiebke Behrens, Steffen Münch, Paul Siller, Tina Kabelitz, Matthias Faust, Alexander Indra, Stefanie Baumgartner, Kerstin Schepanski, Thomas Amon, Uwe Roesler, Roger Funk, Ulrich Nübel
bioRxiv 2021.02.01.429155; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.01.429155
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Agricultural fertilization with poultry manure results in persistent environmental contamination with the pathogen Clostridioides difficile
Martinique Frentrup, Nadine Thiel, Vera Junker, Wiebke Behrens, Steffen Münch, Paul Siller, Tina Kabelitz, Matthias Faust, Alexander Indra, Stefanie Baumgartner, Kerstin Schepanski, Thomas Amon, Uwe Roesler, Roger Funk, Ulrich Nübel
bioRxiv 2021.02.01.429155; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.01.429155

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