Which organism is most commonly recovered in gas gangrene?

• A. Clostridium bifermentans
• B. Clostridium perfringens
• C. Clostridium sordellii
• D. Clostridioides difficile

Answer: (B)

Gas gangrene is most often caused by Clostridium perfringens. This organism is an anaerobic, spore-forming, gram-positive rod that thrives in damaged, poorly oxygenated tissue. In such wounds, C. perfringens proliferates and releases potent toxins, especially alpha toxin, which disrupts cell membranes and drives rapid muscle necrosis. The gas produced by its fermentative metabolism leads to the characteristic crepitus in infected tissue. Because of its high virulence and frequent involvement in these clostridial infections, C. perfringens is the organism most commonly recovered in gas gangrene. Other listed species can cause wound infections, but they are far less commonly associated with gas gangrene, and Clostridioides difficile is linked to antibiotic-associated colitis rather than soft-tissue gas gangrene.