Comparison of Molecular Subtyping and Antimicrobial Resistance Detection Methods Used in a Large Multistate Outbreak of Extensively Drug-Resistant Campylobacter jejuni Infections Linked to Pet Store Puppies
Lavin A. Joseph, Louise Francois Watkins, Jessica Chen, Kaitlin A. Tagg, Christy Bennett, Hayat Caidi, Jason P. Folster, Mark E. Laughlin, Lia Koski, Rachel Silver, Lauren Stevenson, Scott Robertson, Janet Pruckler, Megin Nichols, Hannes Pouseele, Heather A. Carleton, Colin Basler, Cindy R. Friedman, Aimee Geissler, Kelley Hise, Rachael D. Aubert
Abstract
Campylobacter jejuni is a leading cause of enteric bacterial illness in the United States. Traditional molecular subtyping methods, such as pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and 7-gene multilocus sequence typing (MLST), provided limited resolution to adequately identify C. jejuni outbreaks and separate out sporadic isolates during outbreak investigations. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) has emerged as a powerful tool for C. jejuni outbreak detection.