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J Med Microbiol 57 (2008), 343-347; DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.47505-0
© 2008 Society for General Microbiology
ISSN 1473-5644

Isolates of Clostridium perfringens recovered from Costa Rican patients with antibiotic-associated diarrhoea are mostly enterotoxin-negative and susceptible to first-choice antimicrobials

Natassia Camacho1, Carlos Espinoza1, César Rodríguez1,2 and Evelyn Rodríguez1,2

1 Research Laboratory in Anaerobic Bacteriology (LIBA), Faculty of Microbiology, University of Costa Rica, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, San Pedro de Montes de Oca 2060, San José, Costa Rica

2 Research Center for Tropical Diseases (CIET), Faculty of Microbiology, University of Costa Rica, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, San Pedro de Montes de Oca 2060, San José, Costa Rica

Correspondence
César Rodríguez
rodsa{at}cariari.ucr.ac.cr

Received 10 July 2007
Accepted 8 November 2007

To assess the prevalence of enterotoxigenic Clostridium perfringens among adults suffering from antibiotic-associated diarrhoea in a Costa Rican hospital, faecal samples were analysed from 104 patients by a cultivation approach. The 29 strains obtained, which accounted for an isolation frequency of 28 %, were genotyped and investigated with regard to their in vitro susceptibility to penicillin, imipenem, cefotaxime, chloramphenicol and metronidazole using an agar-dilution method. A multiplex PCR for detection of the toxins {alpha}, β and {epsilon} predictably classified all faecal isolates as biotype A. An agglutination assay revealed that only one isolate synthesized detectable amounts of enterotoxin (detection rate 3 %). This result was confirmed by a PCR targeting the cpe gene. The spores of the only CPE+ isolate did not germinate after incubation for 30 min at temperatures above 80 °C. Most isolates were susceptible to first-choice antimicrobials. However, unusual MICs for penicillin (16 µg ml–1) and metronidazole (512 µg ml–1) were detected in one and three isolates, respectively. The low incidence of enterotoxigenic strains suggests that C. perfringens was not a major primary cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea in this hospital during the sampling period.

Abbreviations: AAD, antibiotic-associated diarrhoea; CPE, Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin.






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