CLINICAL MANIFESTATIONS AND MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGY OF VIBRIO-VULNIFICUS INFECTIONS IN DENMARK

The clinical manifestations of and epidemiological data from II patien ts infected with Vibrio vulnificus admitted to Danish hospitals during the unusually warm summer of 1994 are reported, All patients contract ed the disease after exposure to seawater; however, none had consumed seafood, Four patients developed bacteremia, one of whom subsequently died; nine patients, including the four with bacteremia, exhibited ski n manifestations, Four patients contracted the disease while fishing; in at least one case the patient had handled eels, All Vibrio vulnific us strains were highly susceptible to II antimicrobial agents tested, Plasmid analysis revealed that 8 of 11 strains carried plasmids, Ribot yping using the enzyme HindIII on the 11 strains showed five different types, two of which comprised four strains each, The present study pr ovides the first clinical and epidemiological data about a series of h uman Vibrio vulnificus infections from a temperate zone.