Author(s)

Maria Cristina Ossiprandi, Mirko Buttrini, Ezio Bottarelli, Laura Zerbini

Department of Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.

Clostridium perfringens and C. difficile have been associated with acute and chronic large and small bowel diarrhoea, and acute haemorrhagic diarrhoeal syndrome in dogs. The objective of this study was to investigate by toxin gene profile and PCR-ribotyping the molecular characteristics of 14 C. perfringens and 10 C. difficile isolates from 95 canine faeces (n = 36, diarrhoeic and n = 59, non-diarrhoeic). Concerning C. perfringens, 13 strains (92.9%) were type A, of which 3 (23.1%) also possessed the beta 2 toxin (CPB2)-encoding gene. One isolate (7.1%) was type D and possessed CPB2 gene. On the whole, 4 of the 14 strains (28.6%) tested cpb2-positive. Six C. difficile isolates (60.0%) demonstrated tcdA+/tcdB+ and cdtA+/vcdtB+ genotype and tested positive for, in vitro, toxin production by EIA. Eight distinct ribotypes were observed. In conclusion, the PCR assays may provide useful and reliable tools for C. perfringens and C. difficile molecular typing in routine veterinary diagnostics.

Clostridium perfringens; Clostridium difficile; Molecular Typing; Dogs; Toxigenic/Non-Toxigenic

M. Cristina Ossiprandi, M. Buttrini, E. Bottarelli and L. Zerbini, "A Preliminary Molecular Typing by PCR Assays of Clostridium perfringens and Clostridium difficile Isolates from Dogs," Advances in Microbiology, Vol. 2 No. 2, 2012, pp. 87-92. doi: 10.4236/aim.2012.22011.