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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, June 2000, p. 2267-2270, Vol. 38, No. 6
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0

A Survey of Stool Culturing Practices for Vibrio Species at Clinical Laboratories in Gulf Coast States

Nina N. Marano,^1,* Nicholas A. Daniels,^1,2, Alyssa N. Easton,^2,3 Andre McShan,^4,5 Beverly Ray,⁶ Joy G. Wells,¹ Patricia M. Griffin,¹ and Frederick J. Angulo¹

Foodborne and Diarrheal Diseases Branch, Division of Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases,¹ and Office of Minority and Women's Health, Office of the Director,⁵ National Center for Infectious Diseases, Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Program, Epidemiology Program Office,² and Office of Smoking and Health, Epidemiology Branch, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion,³ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia; Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee⁴; and Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Surveillance Division, Texas Department of Health, Austin, Texas⁶

Received 23 December 1999/Returned for modification 14 March 2000/Accepted 6 April 2000

Non-cholera Vibrio infections are an important public health problem. Non-cholera Vibrio species usually cause sporadic infections, often in coastal states, and have also caused several recent nationwide outbreaks of gastroenteritis in the United States. We report a survey of laboratory stool culturing practices for Vibrio among randomly selected clinical laboratories in Gulf Coast states (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas). Interviews conducted with the microbiology supervisors of 201 clinical laboratories found that 164 (82%) received stool specimens for culture. Of these, 102 (62%) of 164 processed stool specimens on site, and 20 (20%) of these 102 laboratories cultured all stool specimens for Vibrio, indicating that at least 34,463 (22%) of 152,797 stool specimens were cultured for Vibrio. This survey suggests that despite an increased incidence of non-cholera Vibrio infections in Gulf Coast states, a low percentage of clinical laboratories routinely screen all stool specimens, and fewer than 25% of stool specimens collected are routinely screened for non-cholera Vibrio.

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^* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Meningitis and Special Pathogens Branch, Division of Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd., MS-CO9, Atlanta, GA 30333. Phone: (404) 639-4733. Fax: (404) 639-3106. E-mail: nbm8{at}cdc.gov.

Present address: Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, Calif.

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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, June 2000, p. 2267-2270, Vol. 38, No. 6
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0

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