An international serotyping system for Clostridium perfringens (welchii) type A in the near future.

The importance of Clostridium perfringens (welchii) type A as an agent of clinical infection in man is well known and, more recently, its role as a cause of human food poisoning has become well recognized. There has been a growing awareness of the need for a system of finer subdivision within the type A group for better understanding of the epidemiology of Cl. perfringens in infections and food poisoning. A set of antisera used for typing and developed in the Food Hygiene Laboratory over a period of some years has proved to be of considerable value in this respect; it is now being integrated with similar sets of antisera prepared independently in the USA and Japan to form a comprehensive and internationally workable serotyping scheme. Negotiations regarding commercial production of the main type antisera are now in progress. It is hoped that serotyping facilities will be available in the near future to workers and institutions concerned with Cl. perfringens type A.