[Toxins of Clostridium perfringens]

Rev Argent Microbiol. 2009 Oct-Dec;41(4):251-60.
[Article in Spanish]

Abstract

Clostridium perfringens is an anaerobic gram-positive spore-forming bacillus. It is one of the pathogens with larger distribution in the environment; it can be isolated from soil and water samples, which also belongs to the intestinal flora of animals and humans. However, on some occasions it can act as an opportunistic pathogen, causing diseases such as gas gangrene, enterotoxemia in sheep and goats and lamb dysentery, among others. In human beings, it is associated to diseases such as food poisoning, necrotic enterocolitis of the infant and necrotic enteritis or pigbel in Papua-New Guinea tribes. The renewed interest existing nowadays in the study of C. perfringens as a veterinarian and human pathogen, together with the advance of molecular biology, had enabled science to have deeper knowledge of the biology and pathology of these bacteria. In this review, we discuss and update the principal aspects of C. perfringens intestinal pathology, in terms of the toxins with major medical relevance at present.

Publication types

  • English Abstract
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animal Diseases / microbiology
  • Animals
  • Bacterial Toxins* / adverse effects
  • Bacterial Toxins* / classification
  • Bacterial Toxins* / pharmacology
  • Bacterial Toxins* / toxicity
  • Clostridium Infections / microbiology
  • Clostridium Infections / veterinary
  • Clostridium perfringens / metabolism*
  • Clostridium perfringens / pathogenicity
  • Enteritis / microbiology
  • Enteritis / veterinary
  • Enterotoxins / physiology
  • Environmental Microbiology
  • Food Microbiology
  • Humans
  • Intestines / microbiology

Substances

  • Bacterial Toxins
  • Enterotoxins
  • enterotoxin, Clostridium