Description
Clostridium sporogenes is a species of Gram-positive bacteria that belongs to the genus Clostridium.
Clostridium sporogenes colonizes the human gastrointestinal tract, but is only present in a subset of the population. It is often used as a surrogate for C. botulinum when testing the efficacy of commercial sterilisation.
Unlike Clostridium botulinum, C. sporogenes does not carry plasmids that are responsible for neurotoxicity. C. sporogenes toxins can induce hemorrhage in rabbit but not in other animals (10). Although isolated from many infections, the role of C. sporogenes as pathogen has been not yet determined. However, the highly proteolytic nature of C. sporogenes is thought to possibly act as adjuvant for opportunistic pathogens in human and animal infections
