ABSTRACT
In order to investigate whether Laribacter hongkongensis could be detected in stool samples of Rattus norvegicus in the wild,Rattus norvegicus were trapped alive in an urban community of Guangzhou,China over a period of one year from June 2015 to May 2016,and their stool samples were examined for the presence of L.hongkongensis strains.Isolates were identified based on phenotypic characteristics and 16S rRNA sequence analysis,and were examined for their susceptibility to 19 antimicrobial agents.Further typing of the isolates was performed using multi-loci sequence typing (MLST) analysis.A total of 191 R.norvegicus were trapped alive.L.hongkongensis was identified and successfully isolated from two samples,representing a prevalence of 1.05 ％.Although the two isolates possessed similar phenotypic characteristics and have no base difference of 16S rRNA gene,they constituted two new distinct sequence types (STs),ST-163 and ST-164.This is the first report that L.hongkongensis can be detected in the intestinal tract of R.norvegicus.Results suggest that R.norvegicus could serve as carriers of L.hongkongensis and therefore could be another potential source of infection.