<i>Bacillus cereus</i> strains from donor human milk and hospital environment: uncovering a putative common origin using comparative analysis of toxin and infra-red spectroscopy profiles

Gaëtan Outurquin; Odile Obin; Anaïs Petit; Roxane Weiss; André Léké; Crespin Adjidé; Catherine Mullié; Gaëtan Outurquin; Odile Obin; Anaïs Petit; Roxane Weiss; André Léké; Crespin Adjidé; Catherine Mullié

doi:10.3934/microbiol.2023022

AIMS Microbiology

2023, Volume 9, Issue 3: 419-430. doi: 10.3934/microbiol.2023022

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Bacillus cereus strains from donor human milk and hospital environment: uncovering a putative common origin using comparative analysis of toxin and infra-red spectroscopy profiles

1.
Laboratoire Hygiène Risque Biologique & Environnement, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Amiens-Picardie, Amiens, France
2.
Lactarium–Biberonnerie, Unité des soins intensifs de néonatologie et de médecine néonatale, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Amiens-Picardie, Amiens, France
3.
Laboratoire AGIR UR UPJV 4294, UFR de Pharmacie, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France

Received: 27 March 2023 Revised: 21 April 2023 Accepted: 26 April 2023 Published: 04 May 2023

Bacillus cereus is reported as a common cause of toxin-induced food poisoning and of contamination in pasteurized human milk donations. As various toxins can be produced by B. cereus, the aim of this work was first to investigate the toxigenic potential and profiles of 63 B. cereus isolates from Amiens Picardie human milk bank. A comparison to the toxigenic profiles of 27 environmental B. cereus isolates harvested in the hospital in which this human milk bank is situated was performed. Toxin gene prevalences were the highest for nhe (ABC) and entFM followed by cytK and hbl(ACD). A 27% prevalence was found for ces human milk isolates, which is higher than previous works reporting on pasteurized milk and dairy products. No significant differences could be found between human milk and environmental isolates regarding toxin gene prevalences and/or toxin gene profiles. The second aim was to establish whether a B. cereus cross-contamination between human milk and the environment could occur. This was achieved with the help of Fourrier-transform infra-red spectroscopy which enabled the discrimination of 2 main clusters of 11 and 8 isolates, each containing human milk and Amiens Picardie human milk bank environmental isolates. For these two clusters, the time sequence showed that human milk isolates were the first to occur and might have contaminated the milk bank environment as well as other human milk donations. Routinely used on B. cereus isolates, Fourrier-transform infra-red spectroscopy could help in rapidly detecting such clusters and in limiting the spread of a B. cereus strain that might generate rejection of pasteurized donation by the human milk bank.
- Bacillus cereus,
- cereulide toxin,
- pore-forming toxins,
- cytotoxin K,
- enterotoxins,
- Fourier-transform infra-red spectroscopy,
- human milk,
- human milk bank
Citation: Gaëtan Outurquin, Odile Obin, Anaïs Petit, Roxane Weiss, André Léké, Crespin Adjidé, Catherine Mullié. Bacillus cereus strains from donor human milk and hospital environment: uncovering a putative common origin using comparative analysis of toxin and infra-red spectroscopy profiles[J]. AIMS Microbiology, 2023, 9(3): 419-430. doi: 10.3934/microbiol.2023022

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Abstract

Bacillus cereus is reported as a common cause of toxin-induced food poisoning and of contamination in pasteurized human milk donations. As various toxins can be produced by B. cereus, the aim of this work was first to investigate the toxigenic potential and profiles of 63 B. cereus isolates from Amiens Picardie human milk bank. A comparison to the toxigenic profiles of 27 environmental B. cereus isolates harvested in the hospital in which this human milk bank is situated was performed. Toxin gene prevalences were the highest for nhe (ABC) and entFM followed by cytK and hbl(ACD). A 27% prevalence was found for ces human milk isolates, which is higher than previous works reporting on pasteurized milk and dairy products. No significant differences could be found between human milk and environmental isolates regarding toxin gene prevalences and/or toxin gene profiles. The second aim was to establish whether a B. cereus cross-contamination between human milk and the environment could occur. This was achieved with the help of Fourrier-transform infra-red spectroscopy which enabled the discrimination of 2 main clusters of 11 and 8 isolates, each containing human milk and Amiens Picardie human milk bank environmental isolates. For these two clusters, the time sequence showed that human milk isolates were the first to occur and might have contaminated the milk bank environment as well as other human milk donations. Routinely used on B. cereus isolates, Fourrier-transform infra-red spectroscopy could help in rapidly detecting such clusters and in limiting the spread of a B. cereus strain that might generate rejection of pasteurized donation by the human milk bank.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the APHMB team for their help in collecting data as well as Julie Baville, Sara Petrilli and Kimberly Lesueur for their technical assistance.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Author contributions

GO, OO, AP and RW performed the environmental sampling and laboratory work towards the isolation and identification of Bacillus cereus strains. AL and CA supervised the experiments and critically read the draft manuscript. CM conceived and supervised the experiments, performed the detection of toxin genes, collected and analyzed data, and wrote the draft manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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