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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #376057
Research Project: Detection and Control of Foodborne Parasites for Food Safety

Location: Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory

Title: Blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) as bioindicator of protozoan water contamination: laboratory and in situ approaches

Author
item BIGOT-CLIVOT, AURÉLIE - Universite De Reims Champagne-Ardenne
item LA CARBONA, STEPHANIE - Actalia Securite Des Aliment
item CAZEAUX, CATHERINE - Actalia Securite Des Aliment
item DURAND, LOIC - Universite De Reims Champagne-Ardenne
item GEBA, ELODIE - Universite De Reims Champagne-Ardenne
item LE FOLL, FRANK - Le Havre Normandy University
item XUEREB, BENOIT - Le Havre Normandy University
item CHALGHMI, HOUSSEM - Le Havre Normandy University
item Dubey, Jitender
item BASTIEN, FANNY - Universite De Reims Champagne-Ardenne
item BONNARD, ISABELLE - Universite De Reims Champagne-Ardenne
item PALOS LADEIRO, MELISSA - Universite De Reims Champagne-Ardenne
item ESCOTTE-BINET, SANDY - Universite De Reims Champagne-Ardenne
item AUBERT, DOMINIQUE - Universite De Reims Champagne-Ardenne
item VILLENA, ISABELLE - Universite De Reims Champagne-Ardenne
item GEFFARD, ALAIN - Universite De Reims Champagne-Ardenne

Submitted to: Journal of Applied Microbiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/15/2021
Publication Date: 6/21/2021
Citation: Bigot-Clivot, A., La Carbona, S., Cazeaux, C., Durand, L., Geba, E., Le Foll, F., Xuereb, B., Chalghmi, H., Dubey, J.P., Bastien, F., Bonnard, I., Palos Ladeiro, M., Escotte-Binet, S., Aubert, D., Villena, I., Geffard, A. 2021. Blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) as bioindicator of protozoan water contamination: laboratory and in situ approaches. Water Research. 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1111/jam.15185.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jam.15185

Interpretive Summary: Ingestion of food and water fecally-contaminated with pathogenic protozoa (Cyclospora, Cystoisospora, Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Toxoplasma) can cause severe gastrointestinal disorders in humans and animals. Detection of these protozoans in water or fruits and vegetables is difficult. To overcome this, scientists used a marine bivalve Mytilus edulis (blue mussel), as a means to monitor water contamination. This approach was chosen because the muscle can concentrate and retain, for weeks, such protozoa, allowing them to provide information about contamination during a prolonged interval. The method was determined to detect even very low levels of contamination. This research was completed in 2019, before closure of Toxoplasma research at USDA. These findings will be of interests to public health workers, water quality officials, biologists, epidemiologists, and parasitologists.

Technical Abstract: The protozoan parasites Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia duodenalis and Toxoplasma gondii are identified as public health priorities since they are recognized as major parasites of waterborne outbreaks. It is therefore urgent to improve analytical tools for the detection of these biological contaminants for monitoring of water bodies. Our researches are focused on the marine bivalve Mytilus edulis (blue mussel). Firstly, mussels were exposed to three concentrations of G. duodenalis cysts and C. parvum or T. gondii oocysts for 21 days followed by 21 days of depuration in clear water. Secondly, wild marine blue mussels were collected along the Northwest coast of France. Our results highlighted that the blue mussels were not only able to represent the water contamination level in laboratory conditions but also in field since 8 of 9 sites were found to be positive to at least one protozoan species. Thus, M. edulis seems to be a relevant tool to bioaccumulate and retain protozoan (oo)cysts in laboratory and in field conditions indicates the potential applicability of this species for biological monitoring of seawater contamination with these pathogens.