Adherence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus and its relation to pathogenicity.

Cultured epithelial cells were used to investigate the adherence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Correlation between adherence in vitro and pathogenicity (colonization) were shown by experiments on the distribution of vibrios in the small intestine of guinea pigs and on the lethal activity of vibrios to mice. In vitro adherence of 32 strains of V. parahaemolyticus including Kanagawa phenomenon (KP) positive and KP-negative strains was studied. The effect of purified KP toxin and antiserum against KP toxin was also studied. Adherence was not related to KP. Adherence of V. parahaemolyticus was thought to depend on viability, since the decrease in the number of colony-forming units paralleled the decrease in the number of bacteria adhering to epithelial cells, and bacteria fixed with ethanol and formalin did not show adherence.