Evaluation of the ELISA as tool in diagnosing Clostridium perfringens enterotoxins

Detecting Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin (CPE) using the enzyme linked linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was evaluated as a tool for diagnosing enterotoxicosis caused by C. perfringens. This method was assessed using a number of different food poisoning outbreaks with possible C. perfringens associations. CPE can easily be detected in faeces of patients involved in food-borne disease caused by C. perfringens. In stools of patients with diarrhoea 0.01-10 micrograms/g of CPE is detectable, however not all samples examined are found to contain CPE. CPE in faeces maintains its immunological stability over a long period (greater than 20 days at room temperature) enabling samples to be stored for some time before assay. The ELISA technique is also useful for the detection of CPE in culture fluids of C. perfringens strains isolated from faeces and from any remaining food considered to have caused the food poisoning outbreak. Detection of CPE in stools combined with testing for CPE production in C. perfringens strains isolated both from faeces and from the suspect food seems to give good evidence linking a food-borne disease outbreak with C. perfringens.