OCCURRENCE OF VIBRIO-VULNIFICUS BIOTYPES IN DANISH MARINE ENVIRONMENTS

During the unusually warm summer in Denmark in 1994, 11 clinical cases of Vibrio vulnificus infection were reported, These reports initiated an investigation of the occurrence of V, vulnificus biotypes in Danis h marine environments, Samples of coastal water, sediment, shellfish, and wild fish were analyzed by preenrichment in alkaline peptone water amended with polymyxin B (2.0 x 10(4) U/liter) followed by streaking onto modified cellobiose-polymyxin B-colistin agar. V. vulnificus-like colonies were tested with a V, vulnificus-specific DNA probe, Low den sities of V. vulnificus were detected in water (0.8 to 19 CFU/liter) f rom June until mid-September and in sediment (0.04 to > 11 CFU/g) from July until mid-November, The presence of V. vulnificus was strongly c orrelated with water temperature. However, we isolated V, vulnificus f rom water from a mussel farm at a lower temperature than previously re ported (7 degrees C). In 1 of the 13 locations studied, V, vulnificus was found in mussels in 7 of 17 samples analyzed; this is the first re port of V, vulnificus in European shellfish, V. vulnificus was also is olated from gills, intestinal contents, and mucus from wild fish, Alth ough biotyping of 706 V. vulnificus strains isolated during our invest igations revealed that the majority of the strains (99.6%) belonged to biotype 1, biotype 2 was detected in seawater at a low frequency (0.4 %), Our findings provide further evidence that seawater can serve as a reservoir and might facilitate spread of V. vulnificus biotype 2 to e els, with subsequent spread to persons handling eels, In conclusion, o ur data demonstrate that V. vulnificus is ubiquitous in a temperate ma rine environment and that V. vulnificus biotype 2 is not strictly conf ined to eels.