Adherence of haemagglutinating and non-haemagglutinating clinical and environmental isolates of Aeromonas.

Twelve haemagglutinating and non-haemagglutinating isolates of Aeromonas spp., comprising 6 each of clinical and environmental origin, were examined for their ability to adhere to rabbit intestinal epithelium, for inhibition of adhesion with sugars, and for delineation of the portion of intestine, jejunum, or ileum that is most susceptible to adhesion. Although the environmental isolates of Aeromonas haemagglutinated human erythrocytes that were inhibited by D-mannose and/or L-fucose, the majority of the clinical isolates of Aeromonas adhered to rabbit intestinal epithelium in almost equal proportions regardless of their haemagglutination (HA) properties, species designation, and source of isolation. Adhesion of both haemagglutinating and non-haemagglutinating isolates of Aeromonas was inhibited by sugars; however, the ability of sugar inhibition to adhere was similar to that observed with HA. This study suggests that adhesion is probably mediated by a variety of pilus or non-pilus colonisation factors which may or may not be a haemagglutinin. The jejunum was found to be more susceptible to adhesion than the ileum. However, no appreciable difference was observed in the number of adhered bacteria to adjacent loops.