Clostridium perfringens can produce many kinds of toxins and hydrolase, causing gas gangrene, enteritis and enterotoxemia in both human and animals. It is known that C. perfringens can produce more than 20 toxins and hydrolases. The different toxin types are associated with specific disease types. At present, molecular toxin-typing method by PCR has replaced the traditional serological typing method. In this study, we systematically summarize the types, basic characteristics, pathogenic mechanism and the relationship with disease of C. perfringens toxins to provide evidence for the establishment of rapid detection method, immune antigen screening, antibody preparation and research of related pathogenic mechanism.
Animals ; Humans ; Clostridium perfringens ; Antibodies ; Polymerase Chain Reaction

Clostridium perfringens is an anaerobe responsible for a wide range of diseases in animals and humans. Symptoms associated with C. perfringens food poisoning are caused by enterotoxin expressed only during sporulation of C. perfringens. It has been known that only 6% of global C. perfringens isolates carry the enterotoxin gene. We found 2 strains of enterotoxigenic C. perfringens out of 33 strains isolated from various sources in Korea using PCR. It was also found that these two strains were both type A that were strongly associated with food poisoning by checking the presence of four major lethal toxins (a-, B-, e-, l-toxin) using PCR. These results suggest that foodborne illness caused by C. perfringens may be common in Korea and that public education is necessary to prevent contamination of foods by this organism.
Animals ; Clostridium perfringens* ; Clostridium* ; Education ; Enterotoxins* ; Foodborne Diseases ; Humans ; Korea* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction

Endocarditis due to anaerobes is not a rare ocurrence. However, Clostridial endocarditis, most cases are caused by Clostridium perfringens, is an uncommon disease. Clostridium are gram positive spore forming obligate anaerobes that are found widely in soil, water, and foods. They naturally inhabit the respiratory, gastrointestinal, and female genital tract. We observed a case of Clostridium perfringens endocarditis in a 67 years old woman. Who experienced fever, chronic diarrhea and vegetation in the aortic valve.
Aged ; Aortic Valve ; Clostridium perfringens* ; Clostridium* ; Diarrhea ; Endocarditis* ; Female ; Fever ; Humans ; Soil ; Spores

Necrotic enteritis (NE) caused by Clostridium (C.) perfringens commonly occurs in domestic broiler farms since antibiotic supplementation in poultry feed has been banned. We evaluated the antibacterial activities of medicinal plant extracts against C. perfringens isolates to select alternative compounds for preventing NE. We compared antibacterial activities using two methods and evaluated susceptibilities of the isolates based on minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC). Two (Fraxinus rhynchophylla Hance [FRH] and Geranium koreanum Kom. [GKK]) of the 30 plant extracts had potent antibacterial activities against C. perfringens ATCC 13124 in two assays. The MIC values for FRH and GKK against 20 C. perfringens isolates were 128~256 microg/mL and 32~128 microg/mL, respectively. The geometric MIC mean values for the two extracts were 147.2 microg/mL and 68.8 microg/mL, respectively. The MBCs for the two extracts against the same strains were 1,024~2,048 microg/mL and 256~1,024 microg/mL, respectively. The geometric mean MIC and MBC for GKK were about two-fold lower than those of FRH. The modified spot-on-lawn assay may be useful for measuring primary antibacterial potential. FRH and GKK are expected to be used as feed additives to prevent or treat NE in veterinary practice.
Chickens* ; Clostridium ; Clostridium perfringens* ; Enteritis ; Fraxinus* ; Geranium* ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Plant Extracts ; Plants, Medicinal ; Poultry

Objective: To establish and optimize PCR methods for the gene encoding of Clostridium perfringens β₂ toxin (cpb₂) and atypical-cpb₂ (aty-cpb₂), analyze the epidemiological characteristics and genetic polymorphism of the cpb₂ of Clostridium perfringens in 9 Chinese areas from 2016 to 2021. Methods: The cpb₂ of 188 Clostridium perfringens strains were examined by PCR; the cpb₂ sequences were acquired by whole-genome sequencing to analyze the genetic polymorphism. Using Mega 11 and the Makeblastdb tool, a phylogenetic tree, and cpb₂-library based on 110 strains carrying the cpb₂ were produced. Using the Blastn technique, a comparison was made to discover sequence similarity between consensus-cpb₂ (con-cpb₂) and aty-cpb₂. Results: The specificity of PCR assay for the cpb₂ and aty-cpb₂ was verified. The PCR results for cpb₂ amplification were highly consistent with the whole-genome sequencing approach (Kappa=0.946, P<0.001). A total of 107 strains from nine regions in China carried cpb₂, 94 types A strains carried aty-cpb₂, 6 types A strains carried con-cpb₂, and 7 types F strains carried aty-cpb₂. The nucleotide sequence similarity between the two coding genes was 68.97%-70.97%, and the similarity between the same coding genes was 98.00%-100.00%. Conclusions: In this study, a specific PCR method for cpb₂ toxin was developed, and the previous PCR method for detecting aty-cpb₂ was improved. aty-cpb₂ is the primary gene encoding of β₂ toxin. There is a significant nucleotide sequence variance between the various cpb₂ genotypes.
Humans ; Clostridium perfringens/genetics* ; Clostridium Infections ; Bacterial Toxins/genetics* ; Phylogeny ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Genetic

Bacteremia ; microbiology ; Clostridium Infections ; complications ; Clostridium perfringens ; pathogenicity ; Female ; Hemolysis ; physiology ; Humans ; Sepsis ; microbiology

It is important to recongnize that the finding of Clostridia in a wound does not establish the diagnosis of gas gangrene. Clostridia may be present in traumatic wound under three circumstances: (1) simple contamination, (2) anaerobic cellulitis, and (3) gas gangrene. Confusion between clostridial cellulitis and gas gangrene may be avoided by remembering that clostrdial cellulitis is not associated with muscle invasion, and seldom produce swelling, pain, toxemia, or shock. Authors had been treated a case of clostridial infection with a vascularized groin flap followed by good result.
Cellulitis ; Clostridium perfringens ; Clostridium ; Diagnosis ; Gas Gangrene ; Groin ; Shock ; Toxemia ; Wounds and Injuries

Pleuropulmonary diseases caused by Clostridial species infections are rare, but have a mortality rate of up to 30%. Furthermore, older people are at greater risk of developing invasive clostridium infections, and the majority of reported cases of clostridium empyema have been attributed to iatrogenic trauma or aspiration. The authors report a case of spontaneous empyema caused by Clostridium perfringens. A 72-year-old woman was admitted to Kangwon National University Hospital for empyema. The patient had no history of trauma, a dental procedure, or aspiration, and was treated using empirical antibiotics and by drainage of pleural fluid. Bacteria species that cause empyema are usually not detected, but on the 4th day of admission, C. perfringens was isolated from the pleural space. The patient was continuously treated with antibiotics for C. perfringens and drainage, and was discharged 25 days after admission with almost a fully recovered status. Increased awareness of Clostrium species infection in the elderly is needed to ensure appropriate treatment.
Aged ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bacteria ; Clostridium ; Clostridium Infections ; Clostridium perfringens* ; Drainage ; Empyema* ; Female ; Gangwon-do ; Humans ; Mortality

Gas gangrene, a subset of necrotizing myositis, is a bacterial infection that produces gas in tissues in gangrene. It is usually caused by Clostridium species, most commonly Clostridium perfringens. Streptococcus anginosus is a rare cause of gas gangrene, with very few cases reported. We report a rare case of traumatic gas gangrene caused by S. anginosus in a 57-year-old female with diabetes after being stabbed with scissors.
Bacterial Infections ; Clostridium ; Clostridium perfringens ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Female ; Gangrene ; Gas Gangrene* ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Myositis ; Streptococcus anginosus* ; Streptococcus*

This article aims to help physicians to make a differential diagnosis of food poisoning by introducing the incubation period, clinical symptoms of each causative agent according to the mode of manifestation. Etiologic agents for food poisoning are classified as bacterial, viral, natural toxin, and chemical toxin. Bacterial food poisoning is classified as infectious type, toxin type and other type according to the pathogenesis. Natural toxin food poisoning are classified as plant and animal food poisoning according to causative food. Many of the diagnoses are made clinically, without confirmative laboratory tests. However, some of food poisonings require the confirmative etiologic diagnoses, because they have rapid life-threatening courses and need proper speedy therapies. When incubation period is 1-6 hours, natural toxin type food poisoning should be suspected such as Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus vomiting type. When it is 7 to 12 hours, Clostridium perfringens and Bacillus cereus diarrheal type should be suspected. When it is 12 to 72 hours, Enterotoxigenic Echerichia coli, Salmonella spp., Vibrio parahemolyticus and Norovirus should be suspected. Before the result of confirmative laboratory test, a probable diagnosis for the etiology of food poisoning should be based upon the combination of their clinical manifestations, food histories, and pathogenic mechanisms.
Animals ; Bacillus cereus ; Clostridium perfringens ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Foodborne Diseases ; Norovirus ; Plants ; Salmonella ; Staphylococcus aureus ; Vibrio ; Vomiting