Faecal carriage ofClostridium perfringens

Abstract

SUMMARYThe numbers and serotypes ofClostridium perfringenspresent in the faeces of three groups of hospital patients and young healthy laboratory workers were examined in studies lasting between 10 and 13 weeks.In one hospital some long-stay geriatric patients carried relatively high numbers ofC. perfringens(> 107/g) most of the time and it was not unusual in any one week for the majority of these patients to carry the same serotype(s). However, the numbers ofC. perfringensin the faeces of young long-stay patients in the same hospital were in the range of 103–104/g and carriage of common serotypes was not observed. These results were similar to the findings with the young laboratory workers.This investigation indicates that two of the laboratory criteria often used in the investigation ofC. perfringensfood poisoning, i.e. faecal counts of ≥ 105C. perfringens/g and patients carrying the same serological type need to be interpreted with caution with suspected outbreaks involving some groups of geriatric long-stay hospital patients.