Isolation and characterization of two hemolytic phenotypes of Vibrio damsela associated with a fatal wound infection.
Two hemolytic phenotypes of Vibrio damsela, isolated from the tissue of a patient with a fatal wound infection, were characterized. The patient had underlying disease, and the wound was associated with an injury inflicted during the handling of a catfish. The phenotypes were morphologically and biochemically similar except for their lecithinase, lipase, and hemolytic activities. When grown on rabbit blood agar, one phenotype (LZ) produced a large zone of hemolysis (10 mm) around the colony, whereas the other type (SZ) produced only a small zone (1 to 2 mm). On sheep blood agar, the differences in hemolytic activity were more subtle. By a modified CAMP test in which V. damsela was streaked perpendicularly to Staphylococcus aureus, it was determined that a factor elaborated by the LZ phenotype (but not the SZ phenotype) protected sheep erythrocytes from the hemolysis normally caused by S. aureus toxins. Cell-free filtrates of broth cultures of each phenotype had the same effects on erythrocytes as did the organisms themselves.
D006460:Hemolysin Proteins; D006461:Hemolysis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010641:Phenotype; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000472:pathogenicity; D014733:Vibrio / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014946:Wound Infection / Q000382:microbiology*
D006460:Hemolysin Proteins