Open AccessMolecular methods for the analysis of Clostridium perfringens relevant to food hygiene
Author(s) -
Schalch Barbara,
Sperner Brigitte,
Eisgruber Hartmut,
Stolle Andreas
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
fems immunology & medical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1574-695X
pISSN - 0928-8244
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-695x.1999.tb01295.x
Subject(s) - clostridium perfringens , pulsed field gel electrophoresis , ribotyping , food poisoning , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , outbreak , enterotoxin , food microbiology , typing , clostridiaceae , toxin , virology , bacteria , escherichia coli , polymerase chain reaction , genotype , biochemistry , genetics , gene
Clostridium perfringens continues to be a common cause of food‐borne disease [1,2]. It produces an enterotoxin (CPE) which is released upon lysis of the vegetative cell during sporulation in the intestinal tract. Catering premises with insufficient cooling and reheating devices often seem to be the cause of outbreaks of C. perfringens food poisoning. Typing of C. perfringens is of great importance for investigating sources of food poisoning cases and for studying the epidemiology of this microorganism. This report describes the examination of 155 C. perfringens isolates by molecular methods. Isolates were taken from 10 food poisoning outbreaks and cases ( n =34 , food and fecal isolates) and from meat and fish pastes ( n =121 ). Isolates were characterized by plasmid profiling, ribotyping, and/or macrorestriction analysis by pulsed‐field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Results show that all three methods are suitable for classifying C. perfringens isolates below the species level. Ribopatterns and PFGE patterns can be interpreted more easily than plasmid profiling results and can be recommended for contamination studies and epidemiologic investigation of food poisonings associated with C. perfringens .