Detection of Clostridial Toxins in Stools from Children with Diarrhoea

1 Laboratorio di Batteriologia e Micologia Medica * Laboratorio di Ultrastrutture, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome Istituto di Pediatria, ll° Facoltà di Medicina, Università di Napoli, Via Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy Received July 1, 1985 Revision received September 11, 1985. Accepted September 11, 1985 A cell-culture assay was used to detect toxins directly in stools from sporadic cases of infantile diarrhoea. Cytotoxins were revealed in 11 out of 58 samples from children with diarrhoea, nine of whom had no common enteric pathogens in their stools. A preliminary characterisation of the cytotoxins was obtained by neutralisation tests with clostridial antitoxins.