Comparative sensitivity of 13 species of pathogenic bacteria to seven chemical germicides.

BACKGROUND: The relative resistance of diverse human bacterial pathogens to commonly used germicidal agents has not been established. METHODS: We measured by titration the survival of thirteen different bacteria after exposure to glutaraldehyde, formaldehyde, hydrogen peroxide, peracetic acid, cupric ascorbate, sodium hypochlorite, or phenol. RESULTS: Our comparative experiments allowed classification of the organisms' survival into four groups: (a) Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus showed the most resistance, (b) Clostridium perfringens, Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Escherichia coli O157:H7 showed intermediate resistance, (c) Listeria monocytogenes, Shigella sonnei, and Vibrio parahaemolyticus survived some treatments with chemical agents only in the presence of protecting protein (serum albumin), and (d) Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio vulnificus, Bacillus cereus, and Yersinia enterocolitica did not survive any of the treatments applied. CONCLUSION: We found species that more frequently survived exposure to germicidal agents were also those most commonly reported in association with hospital infections. Our findings suggest that resistance to disinfectants may be more important than pathogenicity in determining the relative prominence of an organism as an agent responsible for nosocomial infections.

Urea hydrolysis can predict the potential pathogenicity of Vibrio parahaemolyticus strains isolated in the Pacific Northwest.

The ability of some strains of Vibrio parahaemolyticus to hydrolyze urea (uh+) can be used as a marker to predict which strains isolated from molluscan shellfish harvested in the Pacific Northwest are potentially pathogenic. The thermostable direct hemolysin-producing (TDH+) characteristic is a marker that is correlated with potential pathogenicity, and all of the TDH+ strains that we have isolated have been found to be uh+. Most of the uh+ strains belong to somatic antigen groups O3, O4 and O5. TDH+ strains are usually members of groups O4 and O5. The strains most often associated with human illness are members of the uh+, O4 group. The test for urease production is a simple screening test that can be helpful in predicting which strains are potentially pathogenic.