Bacteriological investigation of an outbreak of Clostridium perfringens food poisoning caused by Japanese food without animal protein. |
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Authors: | N Miwa T Masuda K Terai A Kawamura K Otani H Miyamoto |
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Affiliation: | Shizuoka Institute of Environment and Hygiene, Japan. |
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Abstract: | An outbreak of Clostridium perfringens food poisoning occurred in a senior citizen's home in Japan. Japanese food, spinach boiled with fried bean curd, was considered to be the causative food as a result of the detection of the C. perfringens enterotoxin gene by nested PCR. The number of enterotoxin-positive C. perfringens was enumerated as 4.3 x 10(5)/g in the causative food by the MPN method combined with nested PCR. By cultivation, enterotoxin-positive C. perfringens was isolated from all the fecal specimens of patients tested and the causative food. The isolates from patients were serotypable, heat-resistant and the majority produced enterotoxin, however most isolates from the causative food were nonserotypable, enterotoxin-negative and heat-sensitive. |
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