J Bacteriol Virol.  2014 Jun;44(2):170-176. 10.4167/jbv.2014.44.2.170.

Molecular Epidemiology of Clostridium perfringens Isolated from Food Poisoning in Seoul, 2013

• Jin Y
• Jung J
• Jeon S
• Choi S
• Kim Y
• Oh Y
• Choi S
• Jung K

• KMID: 2168692
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4167/jbv.2014.44.2.170

Abstract

Clostridium perfringens food poisoning ranks among the most common gastrointestinal diseases in developed countries. In Korea, C. perfringens food poisoning gradually increases. Using PCR, 72 strains of C. perfringens isolated in Seoul, 2013 were tested for the presence of toxin genes. Of the tested strains, 32 isolates carried the cpe gene, 37 isolates carried the cpb2 gene and 3 isolates carried the cpe and cpb2 genes, respectively. 32 cpe-positive strains were isolated from the food poisoning patient, whereas among 37 cpb2-positive strains, 22 strains were isolated from asymptomatic person. To investigate epidemiological relationship between the isolates, Pulsed-filed gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was performed. The genetic relatedness of the isolates ranged from 55.9% to 100% and 47 distinct PFGE profiles were observed. The results show that the cpe-positive outbreak strains showed close genetic relation, whereas the cpb2-positive isolates revealed a wide genetic diversity.

Keyword

Clostridium perfringens; Toxin gene; PFGE

MeSH Terms

Clostridium perfringens*
Developed Countries
Electrophoresis
Foodborne Diseases*
Gastrointestinal Diseases
Genetic Variation
Humans
Korea
Molecular Epidemiology*
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Seoul

Figure

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  Figure 1. Dendrogram showing the clustering of PFGE patterns for the 72 C. perfringens isolates. A group indicates 72.6% similarity; B group indicates 73.4% similarity; C group indicates 76.7% similarity; D group indicates 72.7% similarity. ST means PFGE subtype pattern.

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