AUTHOR=Liu Xiao-shu , Li Wen-ge , Zhang Wen-zhu , Wu Yuan , Lu Jin-xing 

TITLE=Molecular Characterization of Clostridium difficile Isolates in China From 2010 to 2015

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2018.00845

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2018.00845

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Clostridium difficile</italic> infection (CDI) has become a worldwide public health problem causing high mortality and a large disease burden. Molecular typing and analysis is important for surveillance and infection control of CDI. However, molecular characterization of <italic>C</italic>. <italic>difficile</italic> across China is extremely rare. Here, we report on the toxin profiles, molecular subtyping with multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and PCR ribotyping, and epidemiological characteristics of 199 C. difficile isolates collected between 2010 through 2015 from 13 participating centers across China. We identified 35 STs and 27 ribotypes (RTs) among the 199 C. difficile isolates: ST35 (15.58%), ST3 (15.08%), ST37 (12.06%), and RT017 (14.07%), RT001 (12.06%), RT012 (11.56%) are the most prevalent. One isolate with ST1 and 8 isolates with ST 11 were identified. We identified a new ST in this study, denoted ST332. The toxin profile <italic>tcdA</italic><sup>+</sup><italic>tcdB</italic><sup>+</sup><italic>tcdC</italic><sup>+</sup><italic>tcdR</italic><sup>+</sup><italic>tcdE</italic><sup>+</sup>CDT<sup>-</sup> (65.83%) was the predominant profile. Furthermore, 11 isolates with positive binary toxin genes were discovered. According to the PCR ribotyping, one isolate with RT 027, and 6 isolates with RT 078 were confirmed. The epidemiological characteristics of <italic>C. difficile</italic> in China shows geographical differences, and both the toxin profile and molecular types exhibit great diversity across the different areas.</p>