Clinical and Genomic Characteristics of a Clinical Listeria Monocytogenes ST120 Isolate Recovered from a Pregnant Woman

Abstract

Background

Maternal–fetal listeriosis, caused by Listeria monocytogenes, is a rare but serious infection. Herein, we report the clinical and genomic characteristics of a clinical L. monocytogenes ST120 isolate recovered from a pregnant woman.

Methods

The clinical symptoms and treatment in pregnant woman were described in detail. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) was performed on the L. monocytogenes isolate SJZ_LM001, and the genomic characterization of the isolate was deeply analyzed.

Results

The clinical symptoms in pregnant women were mainly fever, and the placenta experienced severe inflammation. The pregnant woman was treated with ampicillin for effective anti-infective therapy. Genomic analysis showed that isolate SJZ_LM001 is sequence type (ST) 120, belong to clonal complex (CC)8 and lineage II of L. monocytogenes. Additionally, the isolates SJZ_LM001 harbored a novel plasmid pSJZ_LM001, which carried arsenical resistance genes (arsACD and acr3), and cadmium resistance genes (cadAC). Drug susceptibility testing showed that the isolate SJZ-LM001 was susceptible to ampicillin, meropenem, penicillin, and cotrimoxazole.

Conclusion

This is the first to identify a clinical case of infection in a pregnant woman caused by ST120 L. monocytogenes in China. These findings could benefit our understanding of the genomic characteristics of L. monocytogenes, and the pregnancy-related listeriosis and providing early diagnosis and effective targeted treatment.

Keywords:

• Listeria monocytogenes
• whole genome sequence
• ST120
• plasmid

Ethical Approval

The study received ethical approval from the Ethics Committee of the Fourth Hospital of Shijiazhuang (20210024), which complies with the Declaration of Helsinki. The clinical information was collected from the patient after written informed consent.

Consent for Publication

Written informed consent was obtained from the patient to publish this article and clinical information including the use of images.

Disclosure

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grants from Shijiazhuang science and technology research and development plan item (211460593).