Occurrence of enterotoxigenic Aeromonas species in foods of animal origin in North East India.

OBJECTIVE The aim of the present study was to isolate and identify Aeromonas (A.) species and assess their toxin producing ability in foods of animal origin from North East India. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 332 animal food samples (fish, poultry meat, pork and chevon) of which 38 (11.44%) isolates were identified by the 16S rRNA technique were included in the study. The enterotoxigenicity of the isolates was measured by the Mouse Paw Oedema Test (MPOT), rabbit ileal loop (RIL) and vascular permeability reaction (VPR) test. RESULTS Maximum positivity was shown by the samples from fish (13.13%), followed by poultry meat (11.5%), pork (9.85%) and chevon (2.5%). A. hydrophila was the predominant species (92.10%) followed by A. sobria (5.26%) and A. caviae (2.63%). CONCLUSIONS All the Aeromonas strains isolated by culture methods expressed enterotoxigenicity by MPOT, RIL assay and VPR test.