| erythrogenic toxin | <protein> Toxin produced by strains of Streptococcus pyogenes responsible for scarlet fever. Three antigenic variants of the toxin are known. It is a small protein that is complexed with hyaluronic acid and can intensify the effects of other toxins such as endotoxin and streptolysin O. (18 Nov 1997) |
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| extracellular toxin | <protein> Toxin released from gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria as opposed to endotoxins that form part of the cell wall. Examples are cholera, pertussis and diphtheria toxins. Usually specific and highly toxic. (18 Nov 1997) |
| Clostridium | <bacteria> Genus of gram-positive anaerobic spore forming bacilli commonly found in soil. Many species produce exotoxins of great potency, the best known being clostridium botulinum and clostridium tetani. (15 Jan 1998) |
| Clostridium bifermentans | A species found in putrid meat and gaseous gangrene; also commonly found in soil, faeces, and sewage. Its pathogenicity varies from strain to strain. (05 Mar 2000) |
| clostridium botulinum | The aetiologic agent of botulism in man, wild ducks, and other waterfowl. It is also responsible for certain forms of forage poisoning in horses and cattle. The bacterium produces a powerful exotoxin that is resistant to proteolytic digestion. (12 Dec 1998) |
| Clostridium butyricum | A species which occurs in naturally soured milk, in naturally fermented starchy plant substances, and in soil; it is not pathogenic. It is the type species of the genus Clostridium. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Clostridium cadaveris | A species found in a human cadaver and in the peritoneum of a rabbit; it is not pathogenic for guinea pigs or rabbits. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Clostridium carnis | A species found in a rabbit inoculated with soil; it is pathogenic for laboratory animals, in which an exotoxin produces oedema, necrosis, and death. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Clostridium chauvoei | A species which causes blackleg, black quarter, or symptomatic anthrax in cattle and other animals and which produces an exotoxin. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Clostridium cochlearium | A species found in human war wounds and septic infections; it is not pathogenic for guinea pigs. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Clostridium colinum | A species causing ulcerative enteritis in quail and chickens. (05 Mar 2000) |
| clostridium difficile | A bacterium, one of the most common causes of infection of the large bowel (colon) in the U.S. Affecting millions of people yearly. Patients taking antibiotics are at risk of becoming infected with C. Difficile.Antibiotics disrupt the normal bacteria of the bowel, allowing C. Difficile bacteria to become established in the colon. Many persons infected with C. Difficile bacteria have no symptoms. These people become carriers of the bacteria and can infect others. In other people, a toxin produced by C. Difficile causes diarrhoea, abdominal pain, severe inflammation of the colon (colitis), fever, an elevated white blood count, vomiting and dehydration. In severely affected patients, the inner lining of the colon becomes severely inflamed (a condition called pseudomembranous colitis). Rarely, the walls of the colon wear away and holes develop (colon perforation), which can lead to a life-threatening infection of the abdomen. (12 Dec 1998) |
| Clostridium fallax | A species found in war wounds, appendicitis, and black leg of sheep; it produces a weak exotoxin. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Clostridium haemolyticum | A species found in cattle dying of icterohemoglobinuria; it is pathogenic and toxic for guinea pigs and rabbits and produces an unstable, haemolytic toxin. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Clostridium histolyticum | A species found in war wounds, where it induces necrosis of tissue; it produces a cytolytic exotoxin that causes local necrosis and sloughing on injection; it is not toxic on feeding; it is pathogenic for small laboratory animals. (05 Mar 2000) |