title: Detection by PCR-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay of Clostridium botulinum in fish and environmental samples from a coastal area in northern France.
abstract: The prevalence of Clostridium botulinum types A, B, E, and F was determined in 214 fresh fish and environmental samples collected in Northern France. A newly developed PCR-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) used in this survey detected more than 80% of samples inoculated with fewer than 10 C. botulinum spores per 25 g and 100% of samples inoculated with more than 30 C. botulinum spores per 25 g. The percent agreement between PCR-ELISA and mouse bioassay was 88.9%, and PCR-ELISA detected more positive samples than the mouse bioassay did. The prevalence of C. botulinum in seawater fish and sediment was 16.6 and 4%, respectively, corresponding to 3.5 to 7 and 1 to 2 C. botulinum most-probable-number counts, respectively, and is in the low range of C. botulinum contamination reported elsewhere. The toxin type identification of the 31 naturally contaminated samples was 71% type B, 22.5% type A, and 9.6% type E. Type F was not detected. The high prevalence of C. botulinum type B in fish samples is relatively unusual compared with the high prevalence of C. botulinum type E reported in many worldwide and northern European surveys. However, fish processing and fish preparation in France have not been identified as a significant hazard for human type B botulism.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Etudes et de Recherches sur l'Hygiène et la Qualité des Aliments (LERHQA), Agence Française de Sécurité Sanitaire des Aliments (AFSSA), Unité ATB, 94700 Maisons-Alfort, France. p.fach@afssa.fr
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fach
authors.forename: Sylvie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Perelle
authors.forename: Françoise
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dilasser
authors.forename: Joël
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grout
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dargaignaratz
authors.forename: Lucien
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Botella
authors.forename: Jean-Marie
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gourreau
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Carlin
authors.forename: Michel R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Popoff
authors.forename: Véronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Broussolle
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003014:Clostridium botulinum / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005399:Fishes / Q000382:microbiology*; D005602:France; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction