Clostridium perfringens is an important anaerobic pathogen causing food-borne gastrointestinal (GI) diseases in humans and animals, often referred to as perfringens food poisoning. Humans become infected by transmission of the bacteria from cooked dishes, especially meat dishes. Contamination of the meat by the intestinal contents of slaughtered animals might serve as an important source of this pathogen to the food supply.
C. perfringens develops easily in complex peptone media but much less in defined media. Under optimal conditions it can double in 7 min.
This bacterium is a gram-positive anaerobic bacillus that is classified into five types according to the production of four major toxins: alpha (α), beta (β), epsilon (ε) and iota (ι).
In addition to the major toxins, it can produce more than 15 other known toxins. Some of these additional virulence factors, including enterotoxin, necrotic enteritis B-like toxin (NetB) and beta-2 toxin, have received more attention than others due to their role in the pathogenesis of C. perfringens-associated disease (CPAD) in humans and animals.
While outbreaks of C. perfringens are common, they do not become major headlines because the typical symptoms of the illness are mild, and deaths are extremely rare.
C. perfringens is a highly ubiquitous bacterium widely distributed in all types of environment (soil, sediments, sewage, slurry, carcasses, dust, the surfaces of plants, etc.). Healthy humans and animals can be carriers of C. perfringens in their digestive tubes.
Gram-positive anaerobic bacillus of Clostridium perfringens
