Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus in Oysters under Low Tidal Range Conditions: Is Seawater Analysis Useful for Risk Assessment?

Authors

Corinne Audemard, Virginia Institute of Marine ScienceFollow
Tal Ben-Horin
Howard I. Kator, Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Kimberly S. Reece, Virginia Institute of Marine ScienceFollow

Document Type

Article

Department/Program

Virginia Institute of Marine Science

Publication Date

2022

Journal

Foods

Volume

11

Issue

24

First Page

4065

Abstract

Human-pathogenic Vibrio bacteria are acquired by oysters through filtering seawater, however, the relationships between levels of these bacteria in measured in oysters and overlying waters are inconsistent across regions. The reasons for these discrepancies are unclear hindering our ability to assess if -or when- seawater samples can be used as a proxy for oysters to assess risk. We investigated whether concentrations of total and human pathogenic Vibrio vulnificus (vvhA and pilF genes) and Vibrio parahaemolyticus (tlh, tdh and trh genes) measured in seawater reflect concentrations of these bacteria in oysters (Crassostrea virginica) cultured within the US lower Chesapeake Bay region. We measured Vibrio spp. concentrations using an MPN-qPCR approach and analyzed the data using structural equation modeling (SEM). We found seawater concentrations of these bacteria to predictably respond to temperature and salinity over chlorophyll a, pheophytin or turbidity. We also inferred from the SEM results that Vibrio concentrations in seawater strongly predict their respective concentrations in oysters. We hypothesize that such seawater-oyster coupling can be observed in regions of low tidal range. Due to the ease of sampling and processing of seawater samples compared to oyster samples, we suggest that under low tidal range conditions, seawater samples can foster increased spatial and temporal coverage and complement data associated with oyster samples.

DOI

doi: 10.3390/foods11244065

Keywords

Crassostrea virginica; Vibrio vulnificus; Vibrio parahaemolyticus; model; aquaculture; seafood safety; ecology; tidal range

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Audemard, Corinne; Ben-Horin, Tal; Kator, Howard I.; and Reece, Kimberly S., Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus in Oysters under Low Tidal Range Conditions: Is Seawater Analysis Useful for Risk Assessment? (2022). Foods, 11(24), 4065.

doi: 10.3390/foods11244065