1975 Volume 49 Issue 6 Pages 232-240
Bacteriological examinations were made in fecal specimens obtaind from 293 healthy persons to isolate C. perfringens and to study their heat-resistance and distribution of Hobbs' serotypes.
1. C. perfringens was isolated from 50 (79.4%) out of 63 specimens examined by direct cultures with streaks of a loopful of feces per plate. The viable counts ranged from 103 to 108 cells per gram of feces, being 105 per gram or more in 47.6 per cent (30/63). The serotypable strains were isolated from 27.0 per cent of specimens (17/63), those serotyps varied among the ea h specimens. The most part of strains isolated from unheated specimens were found to be heat-sensitive.
2. C. perfringens was isolated from 78 (26.6%) out of 293 specimens examined which had been treated by heating for 60 minutes at 100°C. The serotypable strains were isolated from 11.9 per cent of specimens (35/293). Of the typable isolates, Hobbs' 13 and 1 were relatively frequent organisms.
4. The findings noted in this study indicate that it is of profound significance to the diagnosis of food poisoning due to heat-resistant C. perfringens, to make the count of viable cells of C. perfringens in feces from patients after heating at 100°C for 60 minutes as well as to assess heat-resistance of the organisms isolated from unheated feces by direct cultures.
