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. 1983 Mar;17(3):414–418. doi: 10.1128/jcm.17.3.414-418.1983

Association of iota-like toxin and Clostridium spiroforme with both spontaneous and antibiotic-associated diarrhea and colitis in rabbits.

S P Borriello, R J Carman
PMCID: PMC272657  PMID: 6841578

Abstract

A helically coiled, anaerobic, gram-positive sporeforming bacillus, identified as Clostridium spiroforme, was isolated from the cecal contents of all of 27 rabbits with spontaneous diarrhea, at a mean concentration of 10(6.0) spores per g of material. All of these rabbits also had a toxin present in their cecal contents that was neutralized by anti-Clostridium perfringens type E iota toxin, but not by other clostridial antitoxins. In addition, four rabbits with clindamycin-associated colitis were positive for C. spiroforme at a mean concentration of 10(4.5). All of these animals also had iota-like toxin present. Iota-like toxin was not detected in the cecal contents of 72 healthy animals, although C. spiroforme was found in two of these animals at a mean concentration of 10(6.0). C. spiroforme was shown to produce a toxin in vitro that was lethal to mice and caused dermonecrosis in guinea pigs. In all cases, this toxin was neutralized by anti-C. perfringens type E iota toxin.

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Selected References

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

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