A survey of bacterial toxins involved in food poisoning: a suggestion for bacterial food poisoning toxin nomenclature.
There is at present no accepted nomenclature for bacterial protein toxins, although there have been several attempts at dividing them into groups by their mode of action. In this paper we will not try to describe all known bacterial protein toxins, but concentrate on the toxins involved in food poisoning. Although most of these toxins are enterotoxins (protein exotoxins with the site of action on the mucosal cells of the intestinal tract) there are also other toxins involved in food poisoning, like the neurotoxins. In Table 1 the most important food pathogens in Europe are listed. For most, but not all, of these food pathogens, toxins are virulence factors. Generally, we divide food poisoning into infections and intoxications, where Salmonella spp. and Shigella spp. are typical examples of infections and Clostridium botulinum and Staphylococcus aureus for intoxications. We consider it better to make four different groups of food pathogenic bacteria, according to Table 2. Today the first three groups are all defined as infections, although for both group 2 and 3 the bacterium itself does not harm the host directly. The bacterium in such locations is like an 'enterotoxin factory'. The bacteria belonging to group 3 do not even interact with the epithelial cells in the intestine, while the bacteria of group 2 must colonise the epithelial cells prior to enterotoxin production.
Granum
P E
PE
Department of Pharmacology, Norwegian College of Veterinary Medicine, Oslo, Norway. Per.E.Granum@veths.no.
Tomas
J M
JM
Alouf
J E
JE
D001406:Bacillaceae; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000145:classification*; D003625:Data Collection; D004755:Enterobacteriaceae; D004768:Enterotoxins; D005516:Food Microbiology; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D009498:Neurotoxins; D022603:Shiga Toxins; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D014737:Vibrionaceae
D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D004768:Enterotoxins; D009498:Neurotoxins; D022603:Shiga Toxins