• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.423-433
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• 1999

A novel bacteriophage, designated as VPP97, that infects the strains of Vibiro parahaemolyticus (hallophilic, Gram-negative bacterium) isolated most commonly from marine environments, has been discovered, and several of its properties have been determined. The plaques were clear and sized $0.6{\sim}1.0\;mm$ in diameter. The virion forms a single band on 70% sucrose gradient and ${\rho}1.50$ CsCl gradient by sucrose gradient centrifugation and CsCl gradient centrifugation respectively. It has a hexagonal head and a relatively long tail, as shown by electron microscopy. Vibrio alginolyticus, Vibrio fluvialis and Vibrio furnissii were also sensitive to this phage. It was almost totally inactivated at $70^{\circ}C$ and at pH below 5 or over 10. The nucleic acid of VPP97 is composed of DNA. The VPP97 had 9 specific structural proteins sized between 21.5 kDa and 97.4 kDa on SDS-PAGE. When V. parahaemolyticus cultures were treated with either phage VPP97 or one of the several antibiotics for 2 hours, the viable number of V. parahaemolyticus treated with the phage VPP97 is lower than that treated with chloramphenicol, erythromycin or penicillin, but not lower than that treated with tetracycline. Mice that have responded to the phage treatment revealed the lower numbers of V. parahaemolyticus in small intestine and less damage on small intestine compared to the untreated mice. Therefore, we suggest that the phage treatment appears effective to the infection by V. parahaemolyticus.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.625-630
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• 2019

The pathogenic Vibrio genus contains halophilic bacteria that are distributed in marine and freshwater environments. Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio vulnificus, and Vibrio parahaemolyticus are potent human pathogens and leading causes of septicemia, wound infection, and seafood-borne gastroenteritis. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of pathogenic Vibrio species in seawater off the west coast of Korea. Sixty-four seawater samples were obtained from different sites in Gomso Bay and Byeonsan from April 2018 to November 2018. Pathogenic Vibrio species were detected using a combination of most probable number (MPN)-polymerase chain reaction methods. V. cholerae, V. vulnificus, and V. parahaemolyticus were found in 0.0%, 20.3%, and 65.6% of seawater samples, respectively. Quantitative results revealed 3.6-23 MPN/100 mL of V. vulnificus, and 3.6-930 MPN/100 mL of V. parahaemolyticus in the samples. Overall, these results provide new insight into the necessity for seawater sanitation in Gomso Bay and Byunsan; they also provide evidence that will help reduce outbreaks of seafood-borne illness caused by pathogenic Vibrio species.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.105-109
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• 2003

Fifty four strains of pathogenic vibrios were isolated from the Gwangan Beach from May to October, 2002. The isolated vibrios were composed of 7 different species: Vibrio parahaemolyticus, V. cholerae non-O1, V. alginolyticus, V. vulnificus, V. hollisae, V. fluvialis, ane V. mimicus. In the detection rate, V. parahaemolyticus was most predominant as $46\%$(25/54). From the isolated strains, only 25 strains have hemolytic activity or 25 strains only proteolytic activity on agar plates. Eleven strains showed both hemolytic and proteolytic activity. No strains showed urease activity. All strains of V parahaemolyticus did not show hemolytic activity, while V. cholerae non-O1 strains showed $\beta$ hemolytic activity. Kanagawa phenomena of pathogenic vibrios did not accord with hemolytic activity of the culture supernatant at the late log phase. Some strains showed high hemolytic activity despite having proteolytic activity, but some weak hemolytic activities despite having no proteolytic activity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.1026-1035
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• 2011

Vibrio parahaemolyticus, which owes its origin to the marine environment, is considered as one of the most common causes of infectious diarrhea worldwide. The present study investigated the pathogenicity of V. parahaemolyticus against the model organism, Caenorhabditis elegans. Infection in the host was localized with GFP-tagged V. parahaemolyticus using confocal laser scanning microscopy. The times required for causing infection, bacterial load in intestine, chemotactic response, and alteration in pharyngeal pumping were analyzed in the host system. In addition, the regulation of innate immune-related genes, lys-7, clec- 60, and clec-87, was analyzed using real-time PCR. The role of immune-responsible pmk-1 was studied using mutant strains. The pathogenicity of environmental strain CM2 isolated from the Gulf of Mannar, India was compared with that of a reference strain obtained from ATCC. The pathogen infected animals appeared to ward off infection by up-regulating candidate antimicrobial genes for a few hours after the exposure, before succumbing to the pathogen. For the first time, the pathogenicity of V. parahaemolyticus at both the physiological and molecular levels has been studied in detail using the model organism C. elegans.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.125-130
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• 2010

A trimethoprim resistant Vibrio parahaemolyticus, which cause acute gastroenteritis in humans, was isolated from farmed fish and seawater. The resistance profiles of isolated V. parahaemolyticus and their correlation with mobile elements were investigated. All of the V. parahaemolyticus were resistance to both rifampin and trimethoprim. The presence of class I integron was confirmed by PCR. PCR-amplified inserted gene cassettes contained aminoglycoside aac6-II, rifampin arr-3 and trimethoprim dfrA27 resistance genes. This study indicated that class I integron mainly contributed to the circulation of trimethoprim resistance determinants in V. parahaemolyticus.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.429-440
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• 2022

This study assessed the effects of oxygen and ozone nanobubbles on gill morphology, weight gain, and mortality of Pacific white shrimp (Penaeus vannamei), as well as the level of Vibrio parahaemolyticus and water quality of shrimp culture tanks under lab conditions. Two experiments were carried out with oxygen macrobubble, ozone macrobubble, oxygen nanobubble, ozone nanobubble, and control treatments (air-stone macrobubble). Experiments were done in triplicate in 100 L tanks with 15‰ saline water, and 20 shrimp per tank. Tanks in Experiment 1 were not inoculated with bacteria; tanks in Experiment 2 were inoculated with V. parahaemolyticus at a concentration of 10⁶ CFU/mL. The results revealed that short treatments with ozone nanobubbles had minimal impact on shrimp gills, mortality, and growth rates, reduced V. parahaemolyticus concentration in water compared to the other groups, and improve water quality. These laboratory results indicate that ozone nanobubble treatment may be useful for controlling V. parahaemolyticus. More work is needed to find the best protocol to apply the technology on a commercial scale.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.508-515
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• 2014

The contamination status of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in commercially valuable shellfish from the south and west coasts of Korea and the antimicrobial resistance patterns of isolated V. parahaemolyticus were investigated from July through October, 2011. The range of V. parahaemolyticus concentrations in oysters Crassostrea gigas and short neck clams Venerupis philippinarum was <30~290 MPN/100 g and <30~46,000 MPN/100 g, respectively, and greater than 10,000 MPN/100 g of V. parahaemolyticus was detected from 7 of 40 short neck clams. During the survey period, 436 strains of V. parahaemolyticus were isolated (129 from oysters and 307 from short-neck clams) and the antimicrobial resistance patterns of all of the isolates were examined. Antimicrobial resistance against at least one antibiotic was seen in 79.8% of the oyster isolates (103 strains) and 63.8% of the short neck clam isolates (196 strains). The antimicrobial resistance patterns were relatively simple because the antimicrobial resistance of the isolates was simply due to resistance to ampicillin. Only one oyster isolate and three short neck clam isolates showed multiple antibiotic resistance, i.e., resistance against more than four antibiotics.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.460-466
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• 2016

From 2013 through 2015, we investigated the contamination status and antimicrobial resistance patterns of pathogenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus in commercially valuable seawater and shellfish (Oyster Crassostrea gigas, short-neck clam Venerupis philippinarum, ark shell Scapharca broughtonii and mussel Mytilus galloprovinciallis) from the southern coast of Korea. The detection rate of V. parahaemolyticus was highest in short-neck clams (23.7%), followed by ark shells (19.2%), oysters (15.9%), mussels (13.6%), and seawater (8.6%). The following percentages of PCR assays of shellfish were positive for the thermostable direct hemolysin-related hemolysin gene (trh) : oysters (12.8%), short-neck clams(11.8%), and ark shells (3.4%). Similar assays for the thermostable direct hemolysin gene (tdh) resulted in positive results for short-neck clams (5.9%) and ark shells (3.4%). Antimicrobial resistance was present in 100% of 8 tdh (+) and 2 trh (+) V. parahaemolyticus isolates challenged with ampicillin. However, all pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus were sensitive to 14 other antibiotics. To ensure the safety of shellfish consumption, the continuous monitoring of the prevalence and distribution of virulence factors of V. parahaemolyticus in shellfish farms is needed.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.662-668
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• 2017

This study investigated the antimicrobial resistance patterns of Escherichia coli and Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolated from oysters Crassostrea gigas, short-necked clams Ruditapes philippinarum and corb shells Cyclina sinensis from the West Coast of Korea from June through November 2013. The antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of the isolated strains of E. coli and V. parahaemolyticus to 12 antimicrobial agents used in Korea for clinical or veterinary therapy were analyzed. Antimicrobial resistance to at least one antibiotic was seen in 52.0% of the E. coli isolates (156 strains) and 44.3% of the V. parahaemolyticus isolates (194 strains). The resistance of the E. coli (34.0%) and V. parahaemolyticus (41.8%) isolates to ampicillin was highest. Multiple antimicrobial resistance against at least three antimicrobials was seen in 9.0% of the E. coli isolates and 1.0% of the V. parahaemolyticus isolates.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.463-472
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• 2022

In this study, a microbial risk assessment was performed for the bacteria Vibrio parahaemolyticus, which causes a foodborne illness following the consumption of Jeotgal, a fermented seafood in South Korea. The assessment comprised of six stages: product, market, home, consumption, dose-response, and risk. The initial contamination level (IC) was calculated based on the prevalence of V. parahaemolyticus in 90 Jeotgal samples. The kinetic behavior of V. parahaemolyticus was described using predictive models. The data on transportation conditions from manufacturer to market and home were collected through personal communication and from previous studies. Data for the Jeotgal consumption status were obtained, and an appropriate probability distribution was established. The simulation models responding to the scenario were analyzed using the @RISK program. The IC of V. parahaemolyticus was estimated using beta distribution [Beta (1, 91)]. The cell counts during transportation were estimated using Weibull and polynomial models [δ = 1 / (0.0718 - 0.0097 × T + 0.0005 × T²)], while the probability distributions for time and temperature were estimated using Pert, Weibull, Uniform, and LogLogistic distributions. Daily average consumption amounts were assessed using the Pareto distribution [0.60284,1.32,Risk Truncate(0,155)]. The results indicated that the risk of V. parahaemolyticus infection through Jeotgal consumption is low in South Korea.