Food poisoning due to Clostridium perfringens

Abstract

“No other food poisoning bacterium is so uniquely poised to take advantage of the slackness of human beings involved in food preparation.” (John Bates – Food Poisoning lectures). Clostridium perfringens, a Gram-positive anaerobic spore-forming bacillus, has been responsible for a large number of food poisoning events in Australia. Frequently, these are spectacular outbreaks involving large numbers of diners at catered events. While the organism is perhaps better known in clinical laboratories as an agent of gas gangrene and deep tissue infections, in Public Health laboratories it is recognised as one of the major causes of food poisoning in Australia. While these outbreaks can cause high morbidity with severe abdominal cramps and diarrhoea lasting 24 hours, generally, fatal cases are rare, except in the very young and the elderly. For this reason, outbreaks in nursing homes or elderly patients in hospitals need to be identified quickly and their symptoms managed to avoid severe dehydration and shock.