Clostridium perfringens type A: certain characters of epidemiologic significance.

Survival of spores of Cl. perfringens type A was significantly greater than that of vegetative cells in acid pH (pH 1.2). Survival of spores in soil varied from strain to strain. Time required for 5 million spores to be reduced to 500 per gram of soil varied from 2 to 8 months with an average of 4.5+/-2.3 months. Quantitative and qualitative heat resistance studies revealed that a majority of the Indian and all the American strains tested were heat-sensitive. These characters of Cl. perfringens have an important bearing on the epidemiology of food poisoning due to this agent.