Bacteriological investigation of an outbreak of Clostridium perfringens food poisoning caused by Japanese food without animal protein.
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.
Miwa
N
N
Shizuoka Institute of Environment and Hygiene, Japan.
Masuda
T
T
Terai
K
K
Kawamura
A
A
Otani
K
K
Miyamoto
H
H
D000368:Aged; D003015:Clostridium Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003016:Clostridium perfringens / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000382:microbiology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006707:Homes for the Aged; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D009735:Nursing Homes; D013025:Glycine max / Q000382:microbiology*; D018724:Spinacia oleracea / Q000382:microbiology*