title: Identification of tetrodotoxin-producing Shewanella spp. from feces of food poisoning patients and food samples.
abstract: Shewanella spp. is infrequently recovered from clinical specimens. Following two outbreaks of food poisoning, eight Shewanella spp. strains were obtained from the fecal specimens of patients, food and food processing-related materials. Tetrodotoxin (TTX) was identified in the culture supernatants of these strains, and the toxin's biological activity was detected using a mouse bioassay. This study suggested that Shewanella strains can colonize and survive in human intestines. The study also raises the issues of the accumulation of TTX produced by Shewanella in food and the possible role of TTX-producing Shewanella in food poisoning.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control/Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, P.O. Box 5, Beijing, Changping, China.
authors.forename: Duochun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Ma'anshan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Ma'anshan, China.
authors.forename: Yonglu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Center for Diseases Control and Prevention of Fujian Province, Fujian, China.
authors.forename: Hongnan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Center for Diseases Control and Prevention of Fujian Province, Fujian, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control/Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, P.O. Box 5, Beijing, Changping, China.
authors.forename: Di
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control/Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, P.O. Box 5, Beijing, Changping, China.
authors.forename: Biao
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kan