VIBRIO PARAHAEMOLYTICUS AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN SEAFOOD SAFETY

摘要

There are 30 species in the genus Vibrio, but 13 of these are pathogenic to humans. All pathogenic vibrios have been reported to cause foodborne diseases, although V. parahaemolyticus is considered the most important pathogenic Vibrio. V. parahaemolyticus is a halophilic bacterium that occurs naturally in aquatic environments worldwide. The pathogen caused only sporadic diarrhea mainly associated with the consumption of raw or undercooked seafood up to recent years. Since 1996, the incidence of V. parahaemolyticus infections has increased dramatically. V. parahaemolyticus is the leading cause of seafood-associated bacterial gastroenteritis in the United States and the etiological agent of the half foodborne outbreaks in some Asian countries. This increase in incidence has been related to the emergence of the O3:K6 serovar. The V. parahaemolyticus strains producing the thermostable direct hemolysin or the thermostable direct hemolysin-related hemolysin, which are encoded by tdh and trh genes, respectively, are considered pathogenic. Because, the risk of V. parahaemolyticus infection is considered extremely low in Europe, the organism has been excluded from the European microbiological criteria. However, recent studies in Spain and France have shown that V. parahaemolyticus infections have been increased. A recent survey, conducted in Greece in collaboration with our laboratory, reported that the pathogen is one of the most frequent Vibrios isolated from farmed or wild fish. The emergence of the pathogen in Europe is a public health concern and emphasizes the importance of microbiologic surveillance and control programs of V. parahaemolyticus.