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Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition Foodborne Pathogenic Microorganisms and Natural Toxins Handbook |
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1. Name of the Organism: Vibrio parahaemolyticus (and other marine Vibrio spp.**) |
This bacterium is frequently isolated from the estuarine and marine environment of the United States. Both pathogenic and non-pathogenic forms of the organism can be isolated from marine and estuarine environments and from fish and shellfish dwelling in these environments. |
| 2. Name of Acute Disease: | V. parahaemolyticus-associated gastroenteritis is the name of the infection caused by this organism. |
| 3. Nature of the Disease: | Diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, headache, fever, and chills may be associated with infections caused by this organism. The illness is usually mild or moderate, although some cases may require hospitalization. The median duration of the illness is 2.5 days. The incubation period is 4-96 hours after the ingestion of the organism, with a mean of 15 hours. Disease is caused when the organism attaches itself to an individuals' small intestine and excretes an as yet unidentified toxin.
Infective dose -- A total dose of greater than one million organisms may cause disease; this is markedly lowered by antacids (or presumably by food with buffering capability). |
| 4. Diagnosis of Human Illness: | Diagnosis of gastroenteritis caused by this organism is made by culturing the organism from the diarrheic stools of an individual. |
| 5. Associated Foods: | Infections with this organism have been associated with the consumption of raw, improperly cooked, or cooked, recontaminated fish and shellfish. A correlation exists between the probability of infection and warmer months of the year. Improper refrigeration of seafoods contaminated with this organism will allow its proliferation, which increases the possibility of infection. |
| 6. Relative Frequency of Disease: | Major outbreaks have occurred in the U.S. during the warmer months of the year. Sporadic cases occur frequently along all coasts of the U.S. |
| 7. The Usual Course of the Disease: | Diarrhea caused by this organism is usually self-limiting, with few cases requiring hospitalization and/or antibiotic treatment. |
| 8. Target populations: | All individuals who consume raw or improperly cooked fish and shellfish are susceptible to infection by this organism. |
| 9. Analysis of Foods: | Methods used to isolate this organism from foods are similar to those used with diarrheic stools. Because many food isolates are nonpathogenic, pathogenicity of all food isolates must be demonstrated. Although the demonstration of the Kanagawa hemolysin was long considered indicative of pathogenicity, this is now uncertain. |
| 10. Selected Outbreaks: | Sporadic outbreaks of gastroenteritis caused by this organism have occurred in the U.S. and cases are more common during the warmer months. It is very common in Japan, where large outbreaks occur with regularity. |
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**OTHER MARINE VIBRIOS IMPLICATED IN FOODBORNE DISEASE:
Several other marine vibrios have been implicated in human disease. Some may cause wound or ear infections, and others, gastroenteritis. The amount of evidence for certain of these organisms as being causative of human gastroenteritis is small. Nonetheless, several have been isolated from human feces from diarrhea patients from which no other pathogens could be isolated. Methods for recovery of these organisms from foods are similar to those used for recovery of V. parahaemolyticus. The species implicated in human disease include:
Vibrio alginolyticus Vibrio furnissii
Vibrio carchariae Vibrio hollisae
Vibrio cincinnatiensis Vibrio metschnikovii
Vibrio damsela Vibrio mimicus
Vibrio fluvialis
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| For more information on recent outbreaks see the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports from CDC. | |
| 11. Other Resources: | A Loci index for genome Vibrio parahaemolyticus is available from GenBank. |
mow@cfsan.fda.gov
January 1992 with periodic updates
