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<oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd">
  <dc:contributor>T. Yan</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>D.A. Shively</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>M.N. Byappanahalli</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>R.L. Whitman</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>M.J. Sadowsky</dc:contributor>
  <dc:creator>S. Ishii</dc:creator>
  <dc:date>2006</dc:date>
  <dc:description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Cladophora glomerata&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;, a macrophytic green alga, is commonly found in the Great Lakes, and significant accumulations occur along shorelines during the summer months. Recently,&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Cladophora&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;has been shown to harbor high densities of the fecal indicator bacteria&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Escherichia coli&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;and enterococci.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Cladophora&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;may also harbor human pathogens; however, until now, no studies to address this question have been performed. In the present study, we determined whether attached&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Cladophora&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;, obtained from the Lake Michigan and Burns Ditch (Little Calumet River, Indiana) sides of a breakwater during the summers of 2004 and 2005, harbored the bacterial pathogens Shiga toxin-producing&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Escherichia coli&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;(STEC),&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Salmonella&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;,&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Shigella&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;, and&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Campylobacter&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;. The presence of potential pathogens and numbers of organisms were determined by using cultural methods and by using conventional PCR, most-probable-number PCR (MPN-PCR), and quantitative PCR (QPCR) performed with genus- and toxin-specific primers and probes. While&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Shigella&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;and STEC were detected in 100% and 25%, respectively, of the algal samples obtained near Burns Ditch in 2004, the same pathogens were not detected in samples collected in 2005. MPN-PCR and QPCR allowed enumeration of&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Salmonella&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;in 40 to 80% of the ditch- and lakeside samples, respectively, and the densities were up to 1.6 &amp;times; 10&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;cells per g&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Cladophora&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;. Similarly, these PCR methods allowed enumeration of up to 5.4 &amp;times; 10&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Campylobacter&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;cells/g&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Cladophora&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;in 60 to 100% of lake- and ditchside samples. The&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Campylobacter&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;densities were significantly higher (P &amp;lt; 0.05) in the lakeside&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Cladophora&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;samples than in the ditchside&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Cladophora&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;samples. DNA fingerprint analyses indicated that genotypically identical&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Salmonella&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;isolates were associated with geographically and temporally distinct&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Cladophora&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;samples. However,&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Campylobacter&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;isolates were genetically diverse. Since animal hosts are thought to be the primary habitat for&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Campylobacter&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;and&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Salmonella&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;species, our results suggest that&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Cladophora&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;is a likely secondary habitat for pathogenic bacteria in Lake Michigan and that the association of these bacteria with&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Cladophora&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;warrants additional studies to assess the potential health impact on beach users.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</dc:description>
  <dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format>
  <dc:identifier>10.1128/AEM.00131-06</dc:identifier>
  <dc:language>en</dc:language>
  <dc:publisher>American Society for Microbiology</dc:publisher>
  <dc:title>&lt;i&gt;Cladophora&lt;/i&gt; (Chlorophyta) spp. harbor human bacterial pathogens in nearshore water of Lake Michigan</dc:title>
  <dc:type>article</dc:type>
</oai_dc:dc>