LAUSR

This study aimed to evaluate the Cronobacter spp. strains isolated on the American continent and characterized using multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) available in the PubMLST database and current literature. From 465 Cronobacter spp. strains, the majority (n = 267, 57.4%) was from North America, mainly from USA (n = 234), and 198 (42.6%) were from South America, mainly from Brazil (n = 196). Two hundred thirty-two (49.9%) were isolated from foods, 102 (21.9%) from environmental, 87 (18.7%) from clinical, 27 (5.8%) from PIF, one from water (0.2%), and 16 (3.5%) from unknown sources. Five species were represented: C. sakazakii (374, 80.4%), C. malonaticus (41, 8.8%), C. dublinensis (29, 6.2%), C. turicensis (16, 3.5%), and C. muytjensii (5, 1.1%). The strains with complete MLST profile (n = 345) were assigned to 98 STs, a ratio of 3.5 strain by ST found, and the calculated Simpson`s index was 0.93. The strains showed a high diversity and after eBURST analysis, 30 STs (n = 189) formed 12 single and/or double-locus variant clonal complexes (CC). Thirty-eight STs (38.7%) were associated with clinical cases of infection, including well established C. sakazakii CC 1, 4, 8 and 83; C. malonaticus ST60, 307, 394 and 440; and C. sakazakii ST 12 and 494.