DIARRHEA OUTBREAK IN PERNAMBUCO, BRAZIL, ASSOCIATED WITH A HEAT-STABLE CYTOTOXIC ENTEROTOXIN PRODUCED BY Aeromonas caviae

• Published in: Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo Vol. 57; no. 4; pp. 349 - 351
• Main Authors: Lopes, Ana Carolina Amaral, Martins, Luciano Moura, Gatti, Maria Silvia Viccari, Falavina Dos Reis, Cristhiane Moura, Hofer, Ernesto, Yano, Tomomasa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Brazil Instituto de Medicina Tropical de Sao Paulo 01-07-2015; Instituto de Medicina Tropical; Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
• Subjects: Aeromonas caviae; Aeromonas caviae - pathogenicity; Animals; Bacteriology; Brazil; Cell Line; Cytotoxic enterotoxin; Diarrhea - microbiology; Diarrhea outbreak; Disease Outbreaks; Enterotoxins - biosynthesis; Humans; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Rabbits; TROPICAL MEDICINE; Virulence factors; Virulence Factors - biosynthesis; Brazil; Diarrhea outbreak; Aeromonas caviae; Virulence factors; Cytotoxic enterotoxin
• ISSN: 0036-4665; 1678-9946; 1678-9946; 0036-4665
• DOI: 10.1590/S0036-46652015000400013

In the present study enterotoxic and cytotoxic activities of twenty Aeromonas caviae strains were examined. They originated from fecal specimens of patients with acute diarrhea during an outbreak in Brazil in 2004. Culture supernatants of fourteen strains (70%) caused fluid accumulation in rabbit ileal intestinal loops and in suckling mice assays, and also showed a cytotoxic activity in Vero and Caco-2 cells. The enterotoxic and cytotoxic factors were heat-stable after culture supernatants treatment at 100 ºC. The results revealed that A. caviae strains produce a putative diarrheagenic virulence factor, a heat-stable cytotoxic enterotoxin that could be linked to the diarrhea outbreak that took place in Brazil.