Global and Historical Distribution of Clostridioides difficile in the Human Diet (1981-2019): Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 21886 Samples Reveal Sources of Heterogeneity, High-Risk Foods, and Unexpected Higher Prevalence Toward the Tropic.

Title

Global and Historical Distribution of Clostridioides difficile in the Human Diet (1981-2019): Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 21886 Samples Reveal Sources of Heterogeneity, High-Risk Foods, and Unexpected Higher Prevalence Toward the Tropic.

Creator

Rodriguez-Palacios Alexander; Mo Kevin Q; Shah Bhavan U; Msuya Joan; Bijedic Nina; Deshpande Abhishek; Ilic Sanja

Publisher

Frontiers in medicine

Date

2020
1905-07

Description

Clostridioides difficile (CD) is a spore-forming bacterium that causes life-threatening intestinal infections in humans. Although formerly regarded as exclusively nosocomial, there is increasing genomic evidence that person-to-person transmission accounts for only <25% of cases, supporting the culture-based hypothesis that foods may be routine sources of CD-spore ingestion in humans. To synthesize the evidence on the risk of CD exposure via foods, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies reporting the culture prevalence of CD in foods between January 1981 and November 2019. Meta-analyses, risk-ratio estimates, and meta-regression were used to estimate weighed-prevalence across studies and food types to identify laboratory and geographical sources of heterogeneity. In total, 21886 food samples were tested for CD between 1981 and 2019 (96.4%, n = 21084, 2007-2019; 232 food-sample-sets; 79 studies; 25 countries). Culture methodology, sample size and type, region, and latitude were sources of heterogeneity (p < 0.05). Although non-strictly-anaerobic methods were reported in some studies, and we confirmed experimentally that improper anaerobiosis of media/sample-handling affects CD recovery in agar (Fisher, p < 0.01), most studies (>72%) employed the same (one-of-six) culture strategy. Because the prevalence was also meta-analytically similar across six culture strategies reported, all studies were integrated using three meta-analytical methods. At the study level (n = 79), the four-decade global cumulative-prevalence of CD in the human diet was 4.1% (95%CI = -3.71, 11.91). At the food-set level (n = 232, mean 12.9 g/sample, similar across regions p > 0.2; 95%CI = 9.7-16.2), the weighted prevalence ranged between 4.5% (95%CI = 3-6%; all studies) and 8% (95%CI = 7-8%; only CD-positive-studies). Risk-ratio ranking and meta-regression showed that milk was the least likely source of CD, while seafood, leafy green vegetables, pork, and poultry carried higher risks (p < 0.05). Across regions, the risk of CD in foods for foodborne exposure reproducibly decreased with Earth latitude (p < 0.001). In conclusion, CD in the human diet is a global non-random-source of foodborne exposure that occurs independently of laboratory culture methods, across regions, and at a variable level depending on food type and latitude. The latitudinal trend (high

Subject

antibiotic-resistance; beef; c; C. difficile; chicken meat; contamination; difficile; epidemiology; fecal samples; food; global; ground meat-products; one health; resistant staphylococcus-aureus; retail meat; toxin genes; vegetables

Rights

Article information provided for research and reference use only. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

Format

journalArticle

Search for Full-text

Users with a NEOMED Library login can search for full-text journal articles at the following url: https://libraryguides.neomed.edu/home

Pages

9

Volume

7

ISSN

2296-858X 2296-858X

NEOMED College

NEOMED College of Medicine

NEOMED Department

NEOMED Student Publications

Update Year & Number

June 2020 Update I

Citation

Rodriguez-Palacios Alexander; Mo Kevin Q; Shah Bhavan U; Msuya Joan; Bijedic Nina; Deshpande Abhishek; Ilic Sanja, “Global and Historical Distribution of Clostridioides difficile in the Human Diet (1981-2019): Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 21886 Samples Reveal Sources of Heterogeneity, High-Risk Foods, and Unexpected Higher Prevalence Toward the Tropic.,” NEOMED Bibliography Database, accessed October 15, 2024, https://neomed.omeka.net/items/show/11010.