USE OF POLYMERASE CHAIN FOR THE DIAGNOSTIC OF THE CLOSTRIDIUM-PERFRINGENS FOOD BORNE DISEASES

Synthetic oligonucleotides have been selected to specifically identify the alpha-toxin and enterotoxin genes from C. perfringens responsible of collective foodborne intoxication by using a duplex PCR. This method was used successfully with a food sample from a collective foodborne intoxication. The results were achieved in 4 hours without neither C. perfringens isolation nor sporulation which are required for enterotoxigenic strain characterization by the classical methods. Duplex PCR allows to identify specifically individual enterotoxigenic C. perfringens clones, and can be used directely with food sample containing 5.10(5) C. perfringens per g at least. This duplex PCR seems to be a suitable method for a quick C. perfringens foodborne intoxication diagnosis.