Explore the recorded discovery and history of Clostridium perfringens, with source links and stated limits.
PHAC describes C. perfringens as non-motile, anaerobic, Gram-positive spore-forming bacteria whose vegetative cells are rod shaped and pleomorphic and occur in pairs or short chains, forming highly resistant spores. Seven toxigenic types A to G are recognised, of which A, C and F strains are pathogenic for humans; alpha toxin is produced by all strains. PHAC estimates 1 million cases of foodborne illness every year in the United States and 5 million cases in the European Union, and 1,000 to 3,000 gas gangrene cases reported yearly in the United States. The same species therefore produces an illness that usually resolves within 24 hours and a rapidly destructive wound infection, depending on toxin type and where it grows.
LPSN records the basonym “Bacillus perfringens” Veillon and Zuber 1898. The epithet comes from the Latin for breaking through or breaking in pieces, describing the tissue destruction seen in the wound disease rather than a feature of the cell.
LPSN records Clostridium perfringens (Veillon and Zuber 1898) Hauduroy et al. 1937, effectively published in the Dictionnaire des bactéries pathogènes, and retained on the 1980 Approved Lists of Bacterial Names. Type strain ATCC 13124 / DSM 756 / NCTC 8237.
These references do not identify a first person ever affected. Gas gangrene and foodborne illness were both recognised clinically before the organism was named, and because PHAC states it is not directly transmitted from person to person, there is no chain of transmission to trace to an index case.
Source check: 2026-09-20. Educational content; independent scientific review remains pending.