First report of sexually transmitted multi-drug resistant Shigella sonnei infections in Switzerland, investigated by whole genome sequencing

Shigella sonnei causes foodborne infections, but has recently also been described as a sexually transmitted infection (STI), with increased levels of antimicrobial resistance. We describe three cases of sexually acquired Shigella sonnei infection – the first report of this emerging infe...

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Main Authors: Vladimira Hinic, Helena Seth-Smith, Marcel Stöckle, Daniel Goldenberger, Adrian Egli
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SMW supporting association (Trägerverein Swiss Medical Weekly SMW) 2018-08-01
Series:Swiss Medical Weekly
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.smw.ch/index.php/smw/article/view/2505
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author Vladimira Hinic
Helena Seth-Smith
Marcel Stöckle
Daniel Goldenberger
Adrian Egli
author_facet Vladimira Hinic
Helena Seth-Smith
Marcel Stöckle
Daniel Goldenberger
Adrian Egli
author_sort Vladimira Hinic
collection DOAJ
description Shigella sonnei causes foodborne infections, but has recently also been described as a sexually transmitted infection (STI), with increased levels of antimicrobial resistance. We describe three cases of sexually acquired Shigella sonnei infection – the first report of this emerging infection in Switzerland. We used in-house whole genome sequencing (WGS) to investigate possible transmission routes and epidemiological correlations between the three cases. The genomic analysis demonstrated that two of three case isolates were very closely related, with only two single nucleotide polymorphism differences between them, despite being isolated from two unrelated patients at time-points six months apart, and the infections having been acquired at different geographic locations within Europe. All three isolates were found to fall within two of the clusters (1 and 7) defined within UK men who have sex with men (MSM) isolate populations, but with higher divergence, suggesting a more diverse pool circulating within Europe. Phenotypic testing confirmed the genotypic findings, with all three isolates azithromycin resistant, and two out of three resistant to quinolones. This report underlines the importance of the implementation of new sequencing technologies in the investigation of epidemiological aspects of this STI circulating in the population of MSM. In such cases, therapy should always be guided by antimicrobial susceptibility testing owing to increasing resistances. Greater awareness of this emerging sexually transmitted infection is needed.
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spelling doaj.art-92c629bc589e4f358d778dedd063b2132022-12-22T03:55:41ZengSMW supporting association (Trägerverein Swiss Medical Weekly SMW)Swiss Medical Weekly1424-39972018-08-01148333410.4414/smw.2018.14645First report of sexually transmitted multi-drug resistant Shigella sonnei infections in Switzerland, investigated by whole genome sequencingVladimira Hinic0Helena Seth-Smith1Marcel Stöckle2Daniel Goldenberger3Adrian Egli4Division of Clinical Microbiology, University Hospital Basel, SwitzerlandDivision of Clinical Microbiology, University Hospital Basel, Switzerland; Applied Microbiology Research, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, SwitzerlandDivision of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Basel, SwitzerlandDivision of Clinical Microbiology, University Hospital Basel, SwitzerlandDivision of Clinical Microbiology, University Hospital Basel, Switzerland; Applied Microbiology Research, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, Switzerland Shigella sonnei causes foodborne infections, but has recently also been described as a sexually transmitted infection (STI), with increased levels of antimicrobial resistance. We describe three cases of sexually acquired Shigella sonnei infection – the first report of this emerging infection in Switzerland. We used in-house whole genome sequencing (WGS) to investigate possible transmission routes and epidemiological correlations between the three cases. The genomic analysis demonstrated that two of three case isolates were very closely related, with only two single nucleotide polymorphism differences between them, despite being isolated from two unrelated patients at time-points six months apart, and the infections having been acquired at different geographic locations within Europe. All three isolates were found to fall within two of the clusters (1 and 7) defined within UK men who have sex with men (MSM) isolate populations, but with higher divergence, suggesting a more diverse pool circulating within Europe. Phenotypic testing confirmed the genotypic findings, with all three isolates azithromycin resistant, and two out of three resistant to quinolones. This report underlines the importance of the implementation of new sequencing technologies in the investigation of epidemiological aspects of this STI circulating in the population of MSM. In such cases, therapy should always be guided by antimicrobial susceptibility testing owing to increasing resistances. Greater awareness of this emerging sexually transmitted infection is needed. https://www.smw.ch/index.php/smw/article/view/2505shigellosissexually transmitted infectionswhole genome sequencingepidemiological investigationantimicrobial susceptibility
spellingShingle Vladimira Hinic
Helena Seth-Smith
Marcel Stöckle
Daniel Goldenberger
Adrian Egli
First report of sexually transmitted multi-drug resistant Shigella sonnei infections in Switzerland, investigated by whole genome sequencing
Swiss Medical Weekly
shigellosis
sexually transmitted infections
whole genome sequencing
epidemiological investigation
antimicrobial susceptibility
title First report of sexually transmitted multi-drug resistant Shigella sonnei infections in Switzerland, investigated by whole genome sequencing
title_full First report of sexually transmitted multi-drug resistant Shigella sonnei infections in Switzerland, investigated by whole genome sequencing
title_fullStr First report of sexually transmitted multi-drug resistant Shigella sonnei infections in Switzerland, investigated by whole genome sequencing
title_full_unstemmed First report of sexually transmitted multi-drug resistant Shigella sonnei infections in Switzerland, investigated by whole genome sequencing
title_short First report of sexually transmitted multi-drug resistant Shigella sonnei infections in Switzerland, investigated by whole genome sequencing
title_sort first report of sexually transmitted multi drug resistant shigella sonnei infections in switzerland investigated by whole genome sequencing
topic shigellosis
sexually transmitted infections
whole genome sequencing
epidemiological investigation
antimicrobial susceptibility
url https://www.smw.ch/index.php/smw/article/view/2505
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