Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Clinical Microbiology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Microbiology
. 1988 Aug;26(8):1571–1574. doi: 10.1128/jcm.26.8.1571-1574.1988

Plasmid, serotypic, and enterotoxin analysis of Bacillus cereus in an outbreak setting.

B A DeBuono 1, J Brondum 1, J M Kramer 1, R J Gilbert 1, S M Opal 1
PMCID: PMC266662  PMID: 3139708

Abstract

Bacillus cereus is a recognized agent of food-borne disease. In this report we describe an outbreak of B. cereus gastroenteritis associated with consumption of beef stew among patients and staff at a Rhode Island nursing home. The beef had been improperly stored after preparation. The predominant symptoms of the illness were cramps and diarrhea; it lasted an average of 16 h. No deaths occurred. The organism was recovered from 10 of 23 stools collected from ill patients and 1 of 21 stools collected from controls (P = 0.0044, Fisher's two-tailed exact test). All isolates had the same biotype and serotype, newly designated H.26; all elaborated the diarrheal B. cereus enterotoxin when tested in rabbits by the vascular permeability reaction; and all had identical plasmid profiles, which differed from those of B. cereus strains selected randomly from other outbreaks. Plasmid analysis may prove to be a useful new tool in investigating outbreaks of B. cereus food poisoning.

Full text

PDF
1571

Images in this article

1572Image
on p.1572

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. DACK G. M., SUGIYAMA H., OWENS F. J., KIRSNER J. B. Failure to produce illness in human volunteers fed Bacillus cereus and Clostridium perfringens. J Infect Dis. 1954 Jan-Feb;94(1):34–38. doi: 10.1093/infdis/94.1.34. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Giannella R. A., Brasile L. A hospital food-borne outbreak of diarrhea caused by Bacillus cereus: clinical, epidemiologic, and microbiologic studies. J Infect Dis. 1979 Mar;139(3):366–370. doi: 10.1093/infdis/139.3.366. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Gilbert R. J., Kramer J. M. Bacillus cereus enterotoxins: present status. Biochem Soc Trans. 1984 Apr;12(2):198–200. doi: 10.1042/bst0120198. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Gilbert R. J., Parry J. M. Serotypes of Bacillus cereus from outbreaks of food poisoning and from routine foods. J Hyg (Lond) 1977 Feb;78(1):69–74. doi: 10.1017/s0022172400055947. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Jephcott A. E., Barton B. W., Gilbert R. J., Shearer C. W. An unusual outbreak of food-poisoning associated with meals-on-wheels. Lancet. 1977 Jul 16;2(8029):129–130. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(77)90133-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Kado C. I., Liu S. T. Rapid procedure for detection and isolation of large and small plasmids. J Bacteriol. 1981 Mar;145(3):1365–1373. doi: 10.1128/jb.145.3.1365-1373.1981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. MANTEL N., HAENSZEL W. Statistical aspects of the analysis of data from retrospective studies of disease. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1959 Apr;22(4):719–748. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Mahony D. E., Stringer M. F., Borriello S. P., Mader J. A. Plasmid analysis as a means of strain differentiation in Clostridium perfringens. J Clin Microbiol. 1987 Jul;25(7):1333–1335. doi: 10.1128/jcm.25.7.1333-1335.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Melling J., Capel B. J., Turnbull P. C., Gilbert R. J. Identification of a novel enterotoxigenic activity associated with Bacillus cereus. J Clin Pathol. 1976 Oct;29(10):938–940. doi: 10.1136/jcp.29.10.938. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Meyers J. A., Sanchez D., Elwell L. P., Falkow S. Simple agarose gel electrophoretic method for the identification and characterization of plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid. J Bacteriol. 1976 Sep;127(3):1529–1537. doi: 10.1128/jb.127.3.1529-1537.1976. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Midura T., Gerber M., Wood R., Leonard A. R. Outbreak of food poisoning caused by Bacillus cereus. Public Health Rep. 1970 Jan;85(1):45–48. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Mortimer P. R., McCann G. Food-poisoning episodes associated with Bacillus cereus in fried rice. Lancet. 1974 May 25;1(7865):1043–1045. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(74)90434-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Ruhfel R. E., Robillard N. J., Thorne C. B. Interspecies transduction of plasmids among Bacillus anthracis, B. cereus, and B. thuringiensis. J Bacteriol. 1984 Mar;157(3):708–711. doi: 10.1128/jb.157.3.708-711.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Taylor A. J., Gilbert R. J. Bacillus cereus food poisoning: a provisional serotyping scheme. J Med Microbiol. 1975 Nov;8(4):543–550. doi: 10.1099/00222615-8-4-543. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Terranova W., Blake P. A. Bacillus cereus food poisoning. N Engl J Med. 1978 Jan 19;298(3):143–144. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197801192980306. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Turnbull P. C., Jørgensen K., Kramer J. M., Gilbert R. J., Parry J. M. Severe clinical conditions associated with Bacillus cereus and the apparent involvement of exotoxins. J Clin Pathol. 1979 Mar;32(3):289–293. doi: 10.1136/jcp.32.3.289. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Turnbull P. C., Kramer J. M. Intestinal carriage of Bacillus cereus: faecal isolation studies in three population groups. J Hyg (Lond) 1985 Dec;95(3):629–638. doi: 10.1017/s0022172400060733. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Turnbull P. C., Kramer J. M., Jørgensen K., Gilbert R. J., Melling J. Properties and production characteristics of vomiting, diarrheal, and necrotizing toxins of Bacillus cereus. Am J Clin Nutr. 1979 Jan;32(1):219–228. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/32.1.219. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Turnbull P. C. Studies on the production of enterotoxins by Bacillus cereus. J Clin Pathol. 1976 Oct;29(10):941–948. doi: 10.1136/jcp.29.10.941. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Microbiology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES