- Retired since October 2011Former Professor at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Santé Publique and Deputy Director of Labora... moreRetired since October 2011Former Professor at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Santé Publique and Deputy Director of Laboratoire d' Etudes et de Recherche en Environnement et Santé - Rennes - France (1988-2006)Member of Société Francophone de Santé EnvironnementMember of the Editorial Board of Environnement Risques et Santé - John Libbeyedit
Research Interests: Humanities and Medicine
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Une commission de specialistes constituee principalement d’universitaires anglo-saxons du Royaume-Uni et des Etats-Unis, avec une ouverture internationale sur le Canada, le Chili, le Kenya, la Chine, la Malaisie et le Pakistan, a produit... more
Une commission de specialistes constituee principalement d’universitaires anglo-saxons du Royaume-Uni et des Etats-Unis, avec une ouverture internationale sur le Canada, le Chili, le Kenya, la Chine, la Malaisie et le Pakistan, a produit en ligne en juillet 2015 un rapport publie dans The Lancet en novembre 2015. Ce travail, intitule « Protection de la sante humaine a l’epoque anthropocene », finance en partie par la Fondation Rockefeller, est complementaire de celui d’une autre [...]
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Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) commonly occur in fresh and brackish water where they produce blooms under certain environmental and climatic conditions. Since some species produce neurotoxins, hepatotoxins, cytotoxins, and endotoxins,... more
Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) commonly occur in fresh and brackish water where they produce blooms under certain environmental and climatic conditions. Since some species produce neurotoxins, hepatotoxins, cytotoxins, and endotoxins, blooms can be hazardous for animal and human health. Several cases of human cyanobacterial poisoning have been documented, but accurate assessment of the risk is difficult for lack of knowledge concerning exposure levels and the incidence of this kind of poisoning. Most human cases have been reported after oral consumption of contaminated drinking water or swimming in recreation waters where blooms have occurred. Further study is needed to evaluate and manage this risk, especially in regions dependent on surface water for drinking and recreational water areas. This is especially true in tropical and intertropical areas where climatic conditions promote occurrence of cyanobacteria blooms and nothing is known of the impact on public health.
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ers.2011.0423 Auteur(s) : Jean Lesne Jean.lesne@anses.fr, Sandrine Baron Sandrine.baron@anses.fr Le developpement de la recherche en environnement-sante-travail, sa visibilite et son utilite sont etroitement dependants des capacites de... more
ers.2011.0423 Auteur(s) : Jean Lesne Jean.lesne@anses.fr, Sandrine Baron Sandrine.baron@anses.fr Le developpement de la recherche en environnement-sante-travail, sa visibilite et son utilite sont etroitement dependants des capacites de structuration et de coordination de cette recherche, mais aussi du developpement et du renforcement des equipes travaillant sur les grandes thematiques prioritaires telles que les agents chimiques et expositions actuelles, les agents cancerogenes, mutagenes, [...]
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Vibrio cholerae est une espece bacterienne aquatique euryhaline. Le but de cette etude est de mieux connaitre son ecologie et son potentiel pathogene dans le contexte des eaux estuariennes. Dans un cadre geographique et temporel bien... more
Vibrio cholerae est une espece bacterienne aquatique euryhaline. Le but de cette etude est de mieux connaitre son ecologie et son potentiel pathogene dans le contexte des eaux estuariennes. Dans un cadre geographique et temporel bien defini (estuaire de la Rance en amont de l’usine maree-motrice, six mois a quatre stations d’observation au pas de temps de 14 jours), (i) la modulation de la dynamique de la population de V. Cholerae non toxinogene par certains facteurs environnementaux aquatiques a ete observee, et (ii) les variations spatiales et temporelles dans la composition genetique de la population, qui sous-tendent cette modulation, ont ete explorees via la recherche de genes chromosomiques associes a la virulence d’une part, et le typage par profil multilocus ERIC-PCR d’autre part, sur une collection nombreuse et representative d’isolats.
Research Interests: Biology, Ecology, France, Vibrio cholerae, Biologie, and 3 moreRennes, Ecologie, and variabilité génétique
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Le commerce mondial des biens et services touche de tres pres a la vie quotidienne des citoyens dans toutes ses dimensions et en particulier leur alimentation, leur environnement general et de travail, et plus globalement leur sante.Or la... more
Le commerce mondial des biens et services touche de tres pres a la vie quotidienne des citoyens dans toutes ses dimensions et en particulier leur alimentation, leur environnement general et de travail, et plus globalement leur sante.Or la regulation internationale du commerce, dans sa forme actuelle, exclut toute preoccupation sanitaire, sociale et de developpement durable. Elle ne se fait pas sous les auspices de l’Organisation des Nations Unies (ONU), construite sur des bases democratiques et universelles. Les reglements nationaux de protection du travail, de la sante publique et de l’environnement sont vus d’abord comme des entraves a la libre circulation des biens et des services, et comme des barrieres aux investissements. De plus, les grandes entreprises multinationales participent de plein droit aux negociations directes entre Etats. De nombreux accords bilateraux ou multilateraux d’importance majeure ont deja ete conclus recemment ou sont encore en cours de negociation. C’es...
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The temporal dynamics of non-01 Vibrio cholerae and pollution-indicator bacteria were studied in experimental stabilization ponds under an arid Mediterranean climate after 30 months of a biweekly monitoring program. The non-01 Vibrio... more
The temporal dynamics of non-01 Vibrio cholerae and pollution-indicator bacteria were studied in experimental stabilization ponds under an arid Mediterranean climate after 30 months of a biweekly monitoring program. The non-01 Vibrio chlolerae MPNs showed a strong annual periodicity of the abundances for this bacterial population : low levels during the cold season, high levels during the hot season; this seasonal cycle appeared in the inflow, in the first pond and in the final outflow. Classical pollution-indicator bacteria behaved quite differently, according to data from the literature. The sewage treatment process looked ineffective on this bacterial type : no bacterial reduction during the hot season, no significant decrease during cold season.
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Surveillance of infectious disease pandemics is traditionally carried out by the inventory of individual clinical cases, mortality, and biological testing. Collective monitoring through the analysis of biomarkers in wastewater is a new... more
Surveillance of infectious disease pandemics is traditionally carried out by the inventory of individual clinical cases, mortality, and biological testing. Collective monitoring through the analysis of biomarkers in wastewater is a new complementary approach developed due to progress in analytical chemistry. It supports epidemiological studies for the estimation of the prevalence of viral infectious diseases within communities connected to the same wastewater sewage network. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this type of approach has developed widely and rapidly around the world, due to its anticipated benefits. The article builds on early work published since January 2020 in a rapidly evolving literature. It shows that the method has limitations related in particular to the sampling strategy, analytical matrix effects, interlaboratory variability of results, and also uncertainties about individual viral excretion in feces. In almost all cases, it uses genomic detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus by quantitative PCR and is therefore unable to characterize its infectivity. The results showed a relatively good relation between genome concentrations in wastewater and numbers of confirmed cases. The virus detections seemed to appear a few days before the changes observed on the basis of the clinical and test screenings and can alert the health authorities to the geographical progression of an expected epidemic or to anticipate their reaction in the event of a new spike of the current epidemic. Knowledge of the evolutionary trends of wastewater virus contamination in cities, or even in city districts, also makes it possible to better target geographically and over time the public health management actions intended to prevent the circulation of the virus in the population served by their sewerage systems. In connection with health surveillance, the method is intended to contribute to the development of epidemiological models to predict the evolution of the pandemic at the local level. It is expected to develop into a permanent surveillance network over the territories, providing early, real-time epidemiological indications. Wastewater monitoring could also feed a pool of control samples to determine retrospectively when a new outbreak of viral infection has entered a territory.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has its origins in a constant but rather rare biological phenomenon: the emergence of infectious diseases of zoonotic origin in human populations. The agent of an infectious animal or zoonotic disease depends for its... more
The COVID-19 pandemic has its origins in a constant but rather rare biological phenomenon: the emergence of infectious diseases of zoonotic origin in human populations. The agent of an infectious animal or zoonotic disease depends for its multiplication and dispersion on a wild host species to which it has adapted over time and which constitutes the reservoir of the corresponding infectious disease. If the biotope of this initial host is sustainably modified, the associated biocenosis migrates with its pathogenic flora to a new habitat, enabling the pathogen to change animal host species. If this migration introduces it into the human environment, the infectious agent may pass to humans or to a commensal wildlife or domestic species that will serve as an intermediate host. This ecological mechanism involves multiple and complex interactions that result in a direct link between biodiversity erosion and increased frequency of these emergences in humans. Together with at-risk human soc...
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On October 21, 2010, Haiti was struck by a cholera epidemic for the first time in over a century. Epidemiological and molecular genetic data have clearly demonstrated that the bacterium was imported. Nevertheless, the persistence of the... more
On October 21, 2010, Haiti was struck by a cholera epidemic for the first time in over a century. Epidemiological and molecular genetic data have clearly demonstrated that the bacterium was imported. Nevertheless, the persistence of the epidemic for more than two years, the high incidence rates in some coastal areas and the seasonal exacerbations of the epidemic during the rainy seasons have prompted us to examine the levels of toxigenic Vibrio cholerae in the Haitian aquatic environment. In July 2012, during the warm and rainy season, 36 aquatic stations were sampled to search for toxigenic V. cholerae. These stations included fresh, brackish and saline surface waters as well as waste water; the sampling sites were located in both rural and urban areas (around Port-au-Prince and Gonaïves) located in the West and Artibonite Departments. V. cholerae bacteria were detected in enrichment cultures of water samples (sample volumes included 1 L, 100 mL, 10 mL, 1 mL, 0.1 mL, 0.01 mL and 0.001 mL depending on the context). Detection methods included both culture on selective agar (for strain isolation) and PCR assays targeting the genes ompW (V. cholerae species), O1-rfb and O139-rfb (O1 and O139 V. cholerae serogroups, respectively), and the cholera toxin gene ctxA, which is present exclusively in toxigenic cholera strains. A total of 411 culturable V. cholerae isolates from 29 stations were obtained via selective culture; however, only one of these isolates displayed a late positive reaction with polyvalent anti-O1 serum. Positive V. cholerae PCR results were obtained from each of the 32 tested stations (a total of 77 enrichments out of 107 yielded a positive result); only one sample yielded a positive V. cholerae O1 PCR result. The cholera toxin gene ctxA was never detected via PCR with either primer pair, which includes samples derived from the two stations yielding positive O1 culture or positive O1 PCR results. Therefore, we could not demonstrate the presence of toxigenic V. cholerae O1 among the 36 stations sampled. This suggests that all water samples analyzed contained less than 10 toxigenic V. cholerae O1 bacteria per liter, a level 1000-fold below the dose that has been shown to provoke cholera in healthy adults. Currently, there is no evidence of a significant level of contamination of the aquatic environment in Haiti by the imported toxigenic V. cholerae O1 strain. The reemergence of cholera outbreaks in Haiti during rainy seasons is therefore more likely due to persisting outbreaks insufficiently tackled during the dry periods rather than the commonly suspected aquatic reservoir of toxigenic bacteria.
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A simple screening and identification protocol was assessed for the efficient distinction of colonies of Vibrio cholerae species from others obtained on thiosulphate citrate bile salts sucrose agar after isolation from different... more
A simple screening and identification protocol was assessed for the efficient distinction of colonies of Vibrio cholerae species from others obtained on thiosulphate citrate bile salts sucrose agar after isolation from different environmental specimens. It was demonstrated here that the yellow colonies (sucrose-fermenting), which are able to grow on nutrient agar without added NaCl and which present a positive oxidase reaction, can be confidently considered as presumptive V. cholerae. Confirmation of the identification was carried out using the API 20E microtest and by species-specific ompW-based polymerase chain reaction: 809 of 925 isolates obtained by this screening procedure were identified as V. cholerae by API 20E and confirmed by PCR. The results showed that the direct use of the PCR-based method for the definite identification of the screened colonies gave better results than the API 20E method: of a selection of 100 isolates presumptively identified as V. cholerae according...
Research Interests: Microbiology, Demography, Nutrition and Dietetics, Environmental microbiology, Biology, and 13 moreEnvironmental Monitoring, Public Health, Medicine, France, Humans, Vibrio cholerae, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Newspaper, Reproducibility of Results, Full Text Vol 5, Species Specificity, Sensitivity and Specificity, and Culture Media
Over the last hundred and fifty years, hygienists and health-related water microbiologists have laid down rules of public hygiene and sanitary systems to protect the health of populations. This program has proven to be particularly... more
Over the last hundred and fifty years, hygienists and health-related water microbiologists have laid down rules of public hygiene and sanitary systems to protect the health of populations. This program has proven to be particularly effective against "fecal peril". But in developed countries waterborne infectious disease nevertheless still persists. This fact has led to much research on contamination due to waterborne micro-organisms. The emergence of the paradigm of risk assessment should allow microbiologists to focus their research effort on priority areas of prevention.
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Although liquid egg white may be subjected to limited heat treatment when it is used in the fabrication of various foodstuffs, pathogenic bacteria such Salmonella Enteritidis could persist in this environment. Liquid egg white is not a... more
Although liquid egg white may be subjected to limited heat treatment when it is used in the fabrication of various foodstuffs, pathogenic bacteria such Salmonella Enteritidis could persist in this environment. Liquid egg white is not a favorable medium for Salmonella growth because of its alkaline pH and iron deficiency and the presence of ovotransferrin. Microorganisms adapted to a nonfavorable environment are often more resistant to stresses than are their laboratory-cultured counterparts. The objective of this study was to determine whether Salmonella exposed to an environment mimicking egg white conditions exhibited modified behavior that could have an impact on food safety. A medium resembling egg white (filtrate of egg white with added ovotransferrin) was used as an adaptation treatment to mimic the stress imparted by the egg white environment. There were no changes in resistance to heat and disinfection, in stainless steel adhesion, or in the virulence of Salmonella Enteritid...
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ABSTRACT This study was initiated by the AFNOR water microbiology working group to evaluate the performance of the glass wool method for virus recovery. Its reliability was tested with drinking and sea water by respectively nine and... more
ABSTRACT This study was initiated by the AFNOR water microbiology working group to evaluate the performance of the glass wool method for virus recovery. Its reliability was tested with drinking and sea water by respectively nine and thirteen laboratories. In both trials, six were actively involved in water virology research, one was designated as a central laboratory, the others had no experience in virological practices. Analysis of reproducibility and repeatability according to NF-ISO 5725-2 were realized. For drinking waters (24 assays), the average recovery efficiency was 72%, mean standard deviations: repeatability 12.4%; reproducibility 33.6%; inter-laboratories 21%. For sea waters (39 assays), the average recovery efficiency was 75% and the mean standard deviations 6.9%, 17.9% and 11% respectively.
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Baron S, Lesne J, Moore S, Rossignol E, Rebaudet S, Gazin P, Barrais R, Magloire R, Boncy J, Piarroux R. No Evidence of Significant Levels of Toxigenic V. cholerae O1 in the Haitian Aquatic Environment During the 2012 Rainy Season. PLOS Currents Outbreaks. 2013 Sep 13. Edition 1. doi: 10.1371/cur...more
Background: On October 21, 2010, Haiti was struck by a cholera epidemic for the first time in over a century. Epidemiological and molecular genetic data have clearly demonstrated that the bacterium was imported. Nevertheless, the... more
Background: On October 21, 2010, Haiti was struck by a cholera epidemic for the first time in over a century. Epidemiological and molecular genetic data have clearly demonstrated that the bacterium was imported. Nevertheless, the persistence of the epidemic for more than two years, the high incidence rates in some coastal areas and the seasonal exacerbations of the epidemic during the rainy seasons have prompted us to examine the levels of toxigenic Vibrio cholerae in the Haitian aquatic environment. Methods: In July 2012, during the warm and rainy season, 36 aquatic stations were sampled to search for toxigenic V. cholerae. These stations included fresh, brackish and saline surface waters as well as waste water; the sampling sites were located in both rural and urban areas (around Port-au-Prince and Gonaïves) located in the West and Artibonite Departments. V. cholerae bacteria were detected in enrichment cultures of water samples (sample volumes included 1 L, 100 mL, 10 mL, 1 mL, 0...
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The survival of Salmonella typhimurium under desiccation and starvation conditions commonly associated with farm buildings was investigated in a desiccation model system: filtration onto polycarbonate membranes placed in a sealed... more
The survival of Salmonella typhimurium under desiccation and starvation conditions commonly associated with farm buildings was investigated in a desiccation model system: filtration onto polycarbonate membranes placed in a sealed desiccator with 0.0067 g/m3 absolute humidity. Heterogeneities within bacterial populations in relation to time of desiccation were investigated on a single-cell basis by epifluorescence microscopy coupled with an image analysis system in conjunction with fluorescent dyes Chemchrome V6 and DAPI. Changes in cellular states were compared to the results of plate counts (colony forming units, CFU) on selective (modified semi-solid Rappaport Vassiliadis (MSRV)) and non-selective (nutrient agar (NA) and R2A agar) media, and to the measurements of infectivity and virulence using two animal models (chicks and mice). During 9 weeks of experimental desiccation, total cell counts (DAPI) of starved S. typhimurium remained stable, as did esterase activity (Chemchrome V6), but DAPI fluorescence intensity decreased slowly. Bacterial cells entered gradually into non-culturable states (decrease of CFU counts on MSRV, NA and R2A agar media) and the total loss of culturability on NA (defined as probability of presence of 1 CFU on the membrane inferior to 10−6) was obtained after 9 weeks. Loss of chick infectivity and mice virulence in animal models occurred more rapidly, within three weeks of experimental desiccation.
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Research Interests: Microbiology, Demography, Nutrition and Dietetics, Environmental microbiology, Environmental Monitoring, and 11 morePublic Health, France, Humans, Vibrio cholerae, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Newspaper, Reproducibility of Results, Full Text Vol 5, Species Specificity, Sensitivity and Specificity, and Culture Media
A simple screening and identification protocol was assessed for the efficient distinction of colonies of Vibrio cholerae species from others obtained on thiosulphate citrate bile salts sucrose agar after isolation from different... more
A simple screening and identification protocol was assessed for the efficient distinction of colonies of Vibrio cholerae species from others obtained on thiosulphate citrate bile salts sucrose agar after isolation from different environmental specimens. It was demonstrated here that the yellow colonies (sucrose-fermenting), which are able to grow on nutrient agar without added NaCl and which present a positive oxidase reaction, can be confidently considered as presumptive V. cholerae. Confirmation of the identification was carried out using the API 20E microtest and by species-specific ompW-based polymerase chain reaction: 809 of 925 isolates obtained by this screening procedure were identified as V. cholerae by API 20E and confirmed by PCR. The results showed that the direct use of the PCR-based method for the definite identification of the screened colonies gave better results than the API 20E method: of a selection of 100 isolates presumptively identified as V. cholerae according...
Research Interests: Microbiology, Demography, Nutrition and Dietetics, Environmental microbiology, Environmental Monitoring, and 11 morePublic Health, France, Humans, Vibrio cholerae, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Newspaper, Reproducibility of Results, Full Text Vol 5, Species Specificity, Sensitivity and Specificity, and Culture Media
Maintenance of pathogenicity of viable but nonculturable Salmonella typhimurium cells experimentally stressed with UV-C and seawater, was investigated relative to the viability level of the cellular population. Pathogenicity, tested in a... more
Maintenance of pathogenicity of viable but nonculturable Salmonella typhimurium cells experimentally stressed with UV-C and seawater, was investigated relative to the viability level of the cellular population. Pathogenicity, tested in a mouse model, was lost concomitantly with culturability, whereas cell viability remained undamaged, as determined by respiratory activity and cytoplasmic membrane and genomic integrities.
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Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was used to characterize Aeromonas hydrophila strains isolated from a cluster of hospital-acquired infections that occurred over approximately 1 month in a French hospital. Five isolates from... more
Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was used to characterize Aeromonas hydrophila strains isolated from a cluster of hospital-acquired infections that occurred over approximately 1 month in a French hospital. Five isolates from patients and 10 isolates from the water supply were characterized by biotyping and antibiotic susceptibility patterns and compared with 10 epidemiologically unrelated strains isolated from patients and rivers, by PFGE of digests of chromosomal DNA. Five environmental and four clinical isolates belonged to the same biotype and antibiotic susceptibility pattern type. The endonucleases XbaI, SpeI and SwaI gave satisfactory profiles whereas DraI did not. The profiles were stable, reproducible and discriminatory. The 10 epidemiologically unrelated strains exhibited 10 different patterns after digestion with XbaI, the least expensive, suitable endonuclease. PFGE is a rapid and discriminatory technique for the typing of Aeromonas hydrophila where a common origin...
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... Le remplacement de la gélose TCBS par la gélose GNAm permet la détection de V. cho-lerae après étalement direct d'échan-tillons d'eau saumâtre ou d'eau de mer, sans étape ... in Manuel de Bactériologie... more
... Le remplacement de la gélose TCBS par la gélose GNAm permet la détection de V. cho-lerae après étalement direct d'échan-tillons d'eau saumâtre ou d'eau de mer, sans étape ... in Manuel de Bactériologie alimen-taire, Coordonnateurs : L. Sutra, M. Federighi & J.-L. Jouve. ...