Authors: Wong, Hin-Chung; Liu, Shu-Hui; Chen, Meng-Yi

Source: Journal of Food Protection®, Volume 68, Number 12, December 2005 , pp. 2533-2540(8)

Publisher: International Association for Food Protection

Abstract:

Vibrio vulnificus is an estuarine bacterium that causes severe wound infection and septicemia with high mortality. It also can be transmitted through the consumption of raw contaminated seafood and is an important foodborne pathogen. A total of 40 environmental and clinical V. vulnificus strains isolated from the United States and Taiwan were analyzed for virulence in animals, the presence of virulence-associated factors, and susceptibility to environmental stresses. Virulence in mice was exhibited by 85% of the environmental strains and 95% of the clinical strains. Strains from environmental or clinical sources were similar in virulence-associated phenotypes (protease activity, utilization of transferrin-bound iron, hemolysis, and inactivation in serum) and susceptibility to various stresses (4 and 52°C, 0.1 and 10% NaCl, and pH 3.2), except freeze-thaw treatment. The clinical strains killed experimental animals after a shorter incubation time than did the environmental strains. Most of the 15 virulence-associated genes examined were present in most of the strains, regardless of their sources or virulence, with the exception of vvh, flgF, and purH. vvh was significantly more common in clinical strains than in environmental strains, and vvh, flgF, and purH were more common in virulent strains than in nonvirulent strains. These data may be helpful in devising strategies to manage or reduce the presence of V. vulnificus in foods.

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Microbiology, Soochow University, Taipei, Taiwan 111, Republic of China

Publication date: 2005-12-01

More about this publication?

• IAFP members must first sign in on the right to access full text articles of JFP
  
  First published in 1937, the Journal of Food Protection^®, is a refereed monthly publication. Each issue contains scientific research and authoritative review articles reporting on a variety of topics in food science pertaining to food safety and quality. The Journal is internationally recognized as the leading publication in the field of food microbiology with a readership exceeding 11,000 scientists from 70 countries. The Journal of Food Protection^® is indexed in Index Medicus, Current Contents, BIOSIS, PubMed, Medline, and many others.
  
  Print and online subscriptions are available to Members and Institutional subscribers. Online visitors who are not IAFP Members or journal subscribers will be charged on a pay-per-view basis. Information can be obtained by calling +1 800.369.6337; +1 515.276.3344; fax: +1 515.276.8655, E-mail: info@foodprotection.org or Web site: www.foodprotection.org
• Information for Authors
• Submit a Paper
• Subscribe to this Title
• Membership Information
• Information for Advertisers
• ingentaconnect is not responsible for the content or availability of external websites

Related content

• In this: publication
• By this: publisher
• In this Subject: Nutrition & Food
• By this author: Wong, Hin-Chung ;  Liu, Shu-Hui ;  Chen, Meng-Yi

Website © Publishing Technology. Article copyright remains with the publisher, society or author(s) as specified within the article.

• Terms and conditions
• Privacy policy
• Information for advertisers