Identification ofClostridium botulinumwith API 20 A, Rapid ID 32 A and RapID ANA II

Abstract

Three commercially available test systems for the identification of anaerobic bacteria were evaluated for the identification of 18 proteolytic group I and 69 non-proteolytic group II Clostridium botulinum, four Clostridium sporogenes and 18 non-toxigenic group II C. botulinum-like strains. All proteolytic C. botulinum strains were misidentified by the Rapid ID 32 A and RapID ANA II, while 14 strains and all C. sporogenes strains were identified as C. botulinum or C. sporogenes by the API 20 A. Reversely, all non-proteolytic C. botulinum strains were misidentified by the API 20 A while the Rapid ID 32 A recognized 67 and RapID ANA II 68 strains. All C. sporogenes strains were recognized by the RapID ANA II, while the Rapid ID 32 A recognized one strain. All non-proteolytic non-toxigenic strains were identified as C. botulinum group II by the Rapid ID 32 A, 17 strains by the RapID ANA II, and one strain by the API 20 A. The results show that these test systems do not provide a reliable method for identification of C. botulinum.

Clostridium Tetani Bacteremia From a Suspected Cutaneous Source

“…The diagnosis of tetanus is usually made clinically and does not routinely require isolation of C. tetani [3,4]. Laboratory identification of C. tetani has traditionally been challenging and at times inconclusive, relying on various techniques, including culture in pre-reduced anaerobically sterilized (PRAS) media, analytical profile index methods, and toxin production in mice [3,[8][9][10][11]. More recently, and as our case illustrates, identification of C. tetani has leveraged confirmatory testing modalities (including matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry and 16S rRNA genome sequencing) that arguably may be less labor-intensive and more accurate than traditional methods [8,12].…”

Efficient Secretion of Murine IL-2 From an Attenuated Strain of Clostridium sporogenes, a Novel Delivery Vehicle for Cancer Immunotherapy

“…The near identical phenotype without the risk of exposure to botulinum toxin makes this species an ideal surrogate. Inevitably, the significant similarity between these species has led to the misdiagnosis of pathogenic clostridia as C. sporogenes (Lindstrom et al, 1999). A pubmed search with the query "Clostridium sporogenes[title]" reveals five clinical reports in the last 30 years purporting C. sporogenes as the causative agent of infection.…”