Isolation of Clostridium pseudotetanicum from a patient with gas gangrene.

Clostridium pseudotetanicum was isolated along with Serratia marcescens, Proteus mirabilis, and Staphylococcus epidermidis from a patient suffering from gas gangrene who had been injured in the right leg by a power cultivator. Experimental infection of the hind leg of mice with C. pseudotetanicum and the three kinds of aerobic bacteria did not produce any different macroscopic finding in the infection site, compared with aerobic bacterial injection, except for some enlargement of the involved tissue and some slightly altered histolytic findings. Ampicillin, rifampin, and tinidazole were the most active antimicrobial agents against C. pseudotetanicum.