Susceptibility of Vibrio vulnificus to Human Serum Bactericidal Activity and Effect of Vibrio Infections on Hematocrit Value in Mice

Vibrio vulnificus의 인혈청살균력에 대한 감수성과 Vibrio 감염이 마우스의 Hematocrit치에 미치는 영향

Vibrio vulnificus, a halophilic Vibrio has gained worldwide attention as a cause of severe and frequently fatal wound infections and life-threatening septicemia. For this reason V. vulnificus is thought to produce extreme hemoconcentration and rapid death after infection, and because V. vulnificus is thought to be less susceptible to bactericidal activity of normal human serum, the present study was undertaken to assess the susceptibility of V. vulnificus to human serum bactericidal activity with that of V. parahemolyticus and V. cholerae and to assess the effect of Vibrio species, Salmonella typhimurium and E. coli on hematocrit values in experimentally infected mice. Serum bactericidal activity against both V. vulnificus and V. cholerae was higher than against V. parahemoltyicus. Survival of the test strains in heat-inactivated human serum was greater than that in heat-uninactiveted serum. Both V. parahemolyticus and V. cholerae produced slight hemoconcentration within 2 to 6 hr after intraperitoneal injection of $10^7$ viable bacteria into mice. In contrast, V. vulnificus, S. typhimurium and E. coli produced hemodilution rather than hemoconcentration after 4 or 6 hr after infection. With these results the author can conclude that V. vulnificus is more susceptible to serum bactericidal activity than other Vibrio species, and V. vulnificus did not produce hemoconcentration.