Medicolegal aspects of clostridium as a causative agent in some toxicological

1. Laboratory stock strains of Cl. welchii type Aand Cl. septicumwere used. These strains were isolatedlocally fro~ materials received for diagnosis of gasgangrene infections. ’I’heyr.wer-e tested for their produc-tion of toxins and enzymes;(lecithinase, hyaluronidase,haemagglutinin and haemolysin.2. Laboratory aniLlals (guinea pigs) were experimentallyinfected with Cl. welchii type A and Cl. septicULl, anddifferent fractions; serum, urine, infected muscles ~ndfluid oedema were obtained for the detection of lecithi-nase, hyaluronidase, haemagglutinin and haemolysinatdifferent periods of infection starting two hours up tothirty-six hours after infection. Attempts were alsomade to deLlonstrate these or-gana sms microscopically inthe infected muscles and oedema fluid at ~fferentstages of infection.3. In these experiments, simplified methods for thedetection of different toxins and enzyoes were described~which can be used in the field with only very few