title: [Enteropathogenicity of Providencia alcalifaciens, a newly recognized pathogen causing food-poisoning].
abstract: Providencia alcalifaciens, a member of the family Enterobacteriaceae, has been thought to be a normal flora or an opportunistic pathogen. In 1996, a large outbreak (including 270 patients) of acute gastroenteritis occurred in Fukui. No known enteropathogens were detected in fecal samples of the patients, but P. alcalifaciens was detected from 7 of the 18 samples. The isolates were a clonal by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. The specific antibody against the isolated strain was elevated in the patients' sera. The isolates showed invasiveness into Caco-2 cells and fluid-accumulation in rabbit ileal loops. These results indicate that P. alcalifaciens can be one of the causative agents of gastroenteritis or food-poisoning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bacterial Infections, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Honda
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000818:Animals; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D011532:Providencia / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D011817:Rabbits