Straight from the Horse’s “Mouth”: Genomic Epidemiology of an Icelandic Equine Epidemic
ABSTRACT Despite tight biosecurity measures, an outbreak of respiratory disease rapidly spread across the Icelandic equine population in 2010. Horse transportation was brought to a halt in order to contain the spread of the infectious agent. In a recent article, Björnsdóttir and colleagues (S. Björn...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Society for Microbiology
2017-11-01
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| Series: | mBio |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mBio.01613-17 |
| _version_ | 1818990203497349120 |
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| author | Mark R. Davies |
| author_facet | Mark R. Davies |
| author_sort | Mark R. Davies |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT Despite tight biosecurity measures, an outbreak of respiratory disease rapidly spread across the Icelandic equine population in 2010. Horse transportation was brought to a halt in order to contain the spread of the infectious agent. In a recent article, Björnsdóttir and colleagues (S. Björnsdóttir et al., mBio 8:e00826-17, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.00826-17 ) employ the power and resolution of “genomic epidemiology,” the combination of whole genomic sequencing and epidemiological approaches, to examine the source and spread of the outbreak. Intriguingly, the outbreak was not viral in origin, but linked to a bacterial “commensal” Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus infection. A national sampling strategy coupled with population genomics revealed that the outbreak was most likely driven by a S. equi subsp. zooepidemicus sequence type 209 (ST209) infection that spread nationally from a single source. This retrospective study demonstrates the power of genomics applied on a national scale to unravel the cause of a significant biosecurity threat. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T19:50:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-57fca62a5e8e4833a548379fb863575f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2150-7511 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T19:50:38Z |
| publishDate | 2017-11-01 |
| publisher | American Society for Microbiology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | mBio |
| spelling | doaj.art-57fca62a5e8e4833a548379fb863575f2022-12-21T19:28:19ZengAmerican Society for MicrobiologymBio2150-75112017-11-018510.1128/mBio.01613-17Straight from the Horse’s “Mouth”: Genomic Epidemiology of an Icelandic Equine EpidemicMark R. Davies0Department of Microbiology and Immunology, at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, AustraliaABSTRACT Despite tight biosecurity measures, an outbreak of respiratory disease rapidly spread across the Icelandic equine population in 2010. Horse transportation was brought to a halt in order to contain the spread of the infectious agent. In a recent article, Björnsdóttir and colleagues (S. Björnsdóttir et al., mBio 8:e00826-17, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.00826-17 ) employ the power and resolution of “genomic epidemiology,” the combination of whole genomic sequencing and epidemiological approaches, to examine the source and spread of the outbreak. Intriguingly, the outbreak was not viral in origin, but linked to a bacterial “commensal” Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus infection. A national sampling strategy coupled with population genomics revealed that the outbreak was most likely driven by a S. equi subsp. zooepidemicus sequence type 209 (ST209) infection that spread nationally from a single source. This retrospective study demonstrates the power of genomics applied on a national scale to unravel the cause of a significant biosecurity threat.https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mBio.01613-17Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicusequinegenome analysisgenomic epidemiologyoutbreakrespiratory pathogens |
| spellingShingle | Mark R. Davies Straight from the Horse’s “Mouth”: Genomic Epidemiology of an Icelandic Equine Epidemic mBio Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus equine genome analysis genomic epidemiology outbreak respiratory pathogens |
| title | Straight from the Horse’s “Mouth”: Genomic Epidemiology of an Icelandic Equine Epidemic |
| title_full | Straight from the Horse’s “Mouth”: Genomic Epidemiology of an Icelandic Equine Epidemic |
| title_fullStr | Straight from the Horse’s “Mouth”: Genomic Epidemiology of an Icelandic Equine Epidemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Straight from the Horse’s “Mouth”: Genomic Epidemiology of an Icelandic Equine Epidemic |
| title_short | Straight from the Horse’s “Mouth”: Genomic Epidemiology of an Icelandic Equine Epidemic |
| title_sort | straight from the horse s mouth genomic epidemiology of an icelandic equine epidemic |
| topic | Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus equine genome analysis genomic epidemiology outbreak respiratory pathogens |
| url | https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mBio.01613-17 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT markrdavies straightfromthehorsesmouthgenomicepidemiologyofanicelandicequineepidemic |