2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Identification of novel enterotoxin of Clostridium perfringens produced by human clinical isolates from outbreaks of acute gastroenteritis and application of diagnosis

Research Project

Project/Area Number	24659310
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Hygiene
Research Institution	Osaka Prefectural Institute of Public Health
Principal Investigator	YONOGI Shinya 大阪府立公衆衛生研究所, その他部局等, 研究員 (20553613)
Project Period (FY)	2012-04-01 – 2014-03-31
Keywords	ウェルシュ菌 / 食中毒 / エンテロトキシン / 新型エンテロトキシン / BEC
Research Abstract	Clostridium perfringens is a causative agent of food-borne gastroenteritis which for C. perfringens Enterotoxin (CPE) produced in intestinal tract has been considered an essential factor. We experienced two outbreaks of food-borne gastroenteritis in which non-CPE producers of C. perfringens were strongly suspected to be the cause and analyzed the clinical isolates. In this study, we identified a novel enterotoxin and named BEC (binary enterotoxin of C. perfringens). In addition, we developed detection method for becAB gene and applied to routine test of food-borne gastroenteritis.