Other species
The following species have also been isolated from human stools and/or from patients with gastroenteritis, with the consumption of shellfish as the predominant source of infection (96). V. metschnikovii differs from all other Vibrio species in lacking cytochrome oxidase (7). Some strains (biotype II) of V. fluvialis sp. nov. (now designated V. furnissii) produce gas during D-glucose fermentation (15). V. hollisae is a halophilic species that grows poorly, if at all, on TCBS agar which exhibits a delayed motility pattern (>48 hr) uncharacteristic of the other vibrios (7). A variant of the tdh gene virulence marker of pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus strains was detected in some V. hollisae strains (40).
Differentiation of species
Table 1 presents the differential characteristics of the species most often associated with human illness related to seafood consumption. Tables can also be found in several publications, including Baumann and Schubert (7), Elliot et al. (31), McLaughlin (78) and West et al. (131).