title: Clostridium perfringens type A: certain characters of epidemiologic significance.
abstract: Survival of spores of Cl. perfringens type A was significantly greater than that of vegetative cells in acid pH (pH 1.2). Survival of spores in soil varied from strain to strain. Time required for 5 million spores to be reduced to 500 per gram of soil varied from 2 to 8 months with an average of 4.5+/-2.3 months. Quantitative and qualitative heat resistance studies revealed that a majority of the Indian and all the American strains tested were heat-sensitive. These characters of Cl. perfringens have an important bearing on the epidemiology of food poisoning due to this agent.
mesh_terms: D003016:Clostridium perfringens / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D013045:Species Specificity; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000502:physiology