Studies on the factors affecting the haemolysin production of Vibrio mimicus isolated from clinical and environmental sources

Abstract

The in vitro production of haemolysin by Vibrio mimicus, a newly described aetiological agent for human diarrhoea, was determined using sheep erythrocytes. The effects of medium composition and sodium chloride concentration on haemolysin production and its heat stability were investigated. The haemolysin was produced optimally in brain-heart infusion broth and was unaffected by salt concentration up to 1.5%. However, haemolysin production decreased gradually with increasing concentrations of salt above 1.5%, with no production at 5% NaCl. Haemolytic activity was completely lost when culture supernatants were heated at 56 degrees C for 30 min. In general, clinical strains were more haemolytic than environmental strains. The assay system described is simple and rapid, and can be used to study the pathogenic potential of V. mimicus and other noncholera vibrio strains