[Identification of enterotoxin-producing Clostridium perfringens by the polymerase chain reaction].

Polymerase chain reaction was applied to identify enterotoxin-producing Clostridium perfringens by amplifying a segment of the C. perfringens enterotoxin gene. All of the four enterotoxin-positive reference strains tested were PCR positive while an enterotoxin-negative strain was PCR positive. All 17 clostridial strains (16 species) other than C. perfringens were PCR negative. With clinical strains isolated from various clinical specimens in Japan, Korea, and Thailand, all three enterotoxin-positive isolates were PCR positive and all 82 enterotoxin-negative isolates were PCR negative. PCR results for amplifying a region containing the initiation codon of the C. perfringens enterotoxin gene also demonstrated complete agreement with enterotoxin producibility. These results suggested that the PCR assay is a rapid and simple test for identifying the enterotoxin-producing C. perfringens without using any cultures and spore treatments.