Vibrio mexicanus sp. nov., isolated from a cultured oyster Crassostrea corteziensis.

A bacterial strain was taxonomically characterised by means of a genomic approach comprising 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA), the DNA G+C content, whole genome analyses (ANI and GGDC) and phenotypic characterisation. The strain CAIM 1540(T) was isolated from a cultured oyster Crassostrea corteziensis in La Cruz, Sinaloa state, México. The isolate was found to be catalase and oxidase positive, cells were observed to be motile, O/129-sensitive and facultatively anaerobic.

Photobacterium swingsii sp. nov., isolated from marine organisms.

Six Gram-negative coccobacilli were isolated from Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas) from Mexico and haemolymph of spider crabs (Maja brachydactyla) from Spain. All of the isolates grew as small green colonies on thiosulphate-citrate-bile salts-sucrose (TCBS) agar and were facultatively anaerobic, oxidase-positive and sensitive to the vibriostatic agent O/129. Repetitive palindromic PCR analysis revealed a high degree of genomic homogeneity among the isolates.

Outbreak of gastroenteritis caused by the pandemic Vibrio parahaemolyticus O3:K6 in Mexico.

During 2003 and during late September of 2004, more than 1230 cases of gastroenteritis were reported in the south of Sinaloa State, north-western Mexico. All cases were attributed to the consumption of raw or undercooked shrimp collected at the Huizache-Caimanero lagunary system. Vibrio parahaemolyticus was identified by standard biochemical methods, and many strains were positive for PCR amplifications of the tlh and tdh genes and negative for the trh gene.