[Studies on the enteropathogenic mechanism of non-O1 Vibrio cholerae. I. Enteropathogenicity of clinical and environmental isolates].

Enteropathogenicity and plasmid DNA of clinical and environmental isolates of non-O1 V. cholerae were examined. Results were as follows: 1). The frequencies of enteropathogenic strains judged by the results from both ligated rabbit ileal loop (RIL) and suckling mouse tests were 36/38 (95%) for isolates from overseas travellers, 15/15 (100%) for isolates from food poisoning, 33/44 (75%) for isolates from fish and sea water, and 1/10 (10%) for isolates from river water. 2). Plasmid DNA was detected in eight of the 40 isolates examined, but the presence of plasmid did not correlate with enteropathogenicity. These results indicate that approximately three fourths of the strains isolated from fish and sea water are enteropathogenic, and that the genes controlling the enteropathogenicity of this organism probably exist in chromosomal DNA.