Isolation of Clostridium botulinum type E from Cayuga Lake fish.

The vast majority of the isolations of Clostridium botulinum type E have been from marine fish and their environment, with very few from fresh-water lakes and streams. Johannsen (J. Appl. Bacteriol. 26:43, 1963) has found the organisms to be common in Norway and Sweden's coastal and river waters where the salinity is fairly low, and Prev6t and Huet (Bull. Acad. Natl. Med., Paris 135:432, 1951) isolated a type E culture from a freshwater perch caught in a river near Paris. Bott et al. (U.S. Public Health Serv. Publ. 999-FP-1, p. 221, 1964) demonstrated the presence of C. botulinum type E in Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, and Dolman (personal communication) isolated the organism from Lake St. Martin in Southern Manitoba. This note records the isolation of C. botulinum type E from fish taken from a fresh-water lake in New York State. Cayuga is the second largest of a group of long, narrow lakes, called the Finger Lakes, located in south central New York State. It extends south from the 430 latitude for 37 miles and is 383 ft above sea level. The southern half of the lake has a maximal width of about 2 miles and a maximal depth of about 400 ft. The lake i, fed by two main inlets at its southern extremity and by various smaller inlets around the shores. It empties into the Seneca River at its northern end. Thirty-two fish representing 11 different species collected from various points in the southern portion of the lake and the inlets were sampled. Also, four samples of lake water were tested by a modification of the technique described by Bott et al. A variety of methods were used in sampling the fish, but the only procedure which gave positive results was the following. Individual fish were vacuum-packaged in plastic bags, and were incubated at 10 C for 3 weeks or 20 C for 2 weeks. When the bags were opened, any free liquid present was used to inoculate meat infusion broth, or Trypticase-peptone-glucose-thioglycol-