Bacteriocin typing of Clostridium perfringens in human feces.

Three hundred and ninety-nine isolates of Clostridium perfringens from enriched stool specimens of 51 individuals (about eight colonies per person) were typed by bacteriocins. Forty-nine percent of these persons carried more than one bacteriocin type in their stool, and some had three or four different stains as determined by bacteriocin typing. Weekly stool specimens obtained from seven positive volunteers over a period of 5 weeks were screened for C. perfringens, and several colonies from each person were typed. This survey demonstrated that the number of types fluctuated with time, several types could be carried simultaneously, and the isolation of the organism was variable. Nine new bacteriocin types of C. perfringens were isolated in this study.