Enterotoxigenicity among salmonellae--a prospective analysis for a surveillance programme

Gastroenteritis and food poisoning caused by several Salmonella serotypes are frequently observed in many countries. In particular, S. typhimurium has been found ranking first that put forward the question whether S. typhimurium can be characterized by distinct biological properties. In this paper attempts to characterized 378 Salmonella strains according to their enterotoxigenicity by means of the vascular permeability factor (PF) have been summarized. PF-positive strains are common among all Enteritis-Salmonellae, in particular among S. typhimurium. This serotype is also found with quantitative strongest PF activity. PF-positive strains are found to be active producers of exo-enterotoxins, which have been characterized as LT-enterotoxins by other assays, too. Since the capacity of Enteritis-Salmonellae to produce enterotoxins is in accordance with their clinical and epidemiological importance, the determination of the PF-factor as a rapid screening assay for enterotoxigenicity is proposed in this paper in order to survey epidemiological and clinical significant Salmonellae.