Morphological, Cultural, Biochemical, and Serological Comparison of Japanese Strains ofVibrio parahemolyticuswith Related Cultures Isolated in the United States

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Abstract
Morphological, cultural, biochemical, and serological characteristics of 79 strains ofVibrio parahemolyticusisolated from patients suffering from gastroenteric disease in Japan were compared with 17 suspectedV. parahemolyticuscultures isolated from wound infections and 14 nonpathogenic vibrios isolated from an estuarine environment in the United States. These groups were differentiated on the basis of several key reactions which included: the range of growth temperature and salt tolerance; the production of catalase and acetoin; the hydrolysis of starch; the fermentation and utilization as single carbon source of sucrose, cellobiose, and arabinose; and the ability to swarm on 1% agar. The separation of the groups on the basis of cultural and biochemical analyses was confirmed by means of slide agglutinations with specific anti-K antisera. The results of this study strongly suggest that the wound infection isolates areV. parahemolyticusspecies which are easily distinguished from the nonpathogenic estuarine vibrios.