Edema and hemoconcentration in mice experimentally infected with Vibrio vulnificus.

Vibrio vulnificus (lactose-positive Vibrio), a recently recognized pathogenic marine species, produced extreme hemoconcentration and death within 3 to 6 h after subcutaneous or intraperitoneal injection of 10(8) viable cells into mice; hemotocrit values approached 70% (normal, 45%). About 1 ml of edema fluid accumulated at the site of each subcutaneous injection, and locally increased vascular permeability was demonstrated by a skin bluing assay, using Evans blue dye. A corresponding fluid accumulation did not occur in the peritoneal cavity after an intraperitoneal injection. Filter-sterilized supernatants of cultures grown under a variety of conditions did not produce local edema or lethality, nor did whole Vibrio cells killed by a variety of methods or disrupted by sonic oscillation. Edema fluids collected from infected mice and sterilized by filtration had no effect when they were injected subcutaneously or intraperitoneally into mice. Inocula of 10(9) viable cells of V. vulnificus contained within a diffusion chamber implanted subcutaneously did not produce skin bluing, edema, or lethality; Vibrio cells remained viable and virulent within these chambers for at least 2 weeks. These experiments suggested that vascular permeability changes in V. vulnificus infections may not be attributable to a diffusible toxin and may require direct contact between host cells and viable Vibrio cells.