Abstract
To clarify the route and source of Vibrio vulnificus infection, we analyzed contamination in commercially available crustaceans with V. vulnificus and conducted serotyping and drug sensitivity tests with various antimicrobial agents.
We isolated V. vulnificus from 328 of 4,769 samples (6.9%) of crustaceans. V. vulnificus were most frequently isolated from 272 of 1954 mantis crabs (13.9%), followed by 22 of 434 (5.1%) Japanese mud shrimp and 34 of 2,381 (1.4%) shrimp. Regarding the isolation rates of V. vulnificus according to region, V. vulnificus was isolated in 10 of 12 prefectures (83.3%) surveyed and was most frequently isolated in Miyagi (40.0%), followed by Kagoshima (20.8%), but was not found in any samples from Kagawa or Fukui, indicating a regional difference. As a result of serotyping, 208 of 328 (63.4%) examined strains were differentiated into 14 serotypes : serotype O19 was the most frequently observed (13.7%), followed by O16 (10.3%), O14 (7.3%) and O23 (7.3%). The results of MIC90 in drug susceptibility tests were compared. Ciprofloxacin was the lowest, followed by Meropenem, Minocycline, Tetracyclin, Doxycycline, Chloramphenicol and Nalidixic acid and all strains were susceptible to all of these 7 drugs. However, Lincomycin, Cefmetazole, Kanamycin, Amikacin, Ampicillin, Piperacillin, Cefaloridine, Cefalotin, Cefozopran, Gentamicin, Erythromycin, Cefotaxime and Latamoxef showed high MIC90, and many strains were resistant to those 13 drugs.
