Evidence That Clostridium perfringens Produces Only One Enterotoxin

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Food Safety
• Toxicology

Background:

• Clostridium perfringens is a significant cause of foodborne illness.
• Classical enterotoxin detection methods may not identify all pathogenic strains.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the biological activity of Clostridium perfringens isolates previously classified as nonenterotoxigenic by radioimmunoassay (RIA).
• To determine if these isolates produce enterotoxins serologically unrelated to the classical C. perfringens enterotoxin.

Main Methods:

• Testing thirteen nonenterotoxigenic Clostridium perfringens isolates for enterotoxin production.
• Utilizing rabbit ileal loop assays to assess biological activity.

Main Results:

• None of the thirteen tested Clostridium perfringens strains exhibited enterotoxigenic activity in rabbit ileal loop assays.
• No evidence was found for enterotoxins serologically unrelated to the classical C. perfringens enterotoxin in these isolates.

Conclusions:

• The findings suggest that previously identified RIA-negative Clostridium perfringens isolates do not produce novel enterotoxins.
• The prevalence of nonenterotoxigenic isolates in food poisoning outbreaks is likely due to difficulties in isolating the correct causative strains, not the existence of new toxins.