Clostridium difficile ribotypes in humans and animals in Brazil

Abstract

Clostridium difficile is an emerging enteropathogen responsible for pseudomembranous colitis in humans and diarrhoea in several domestic and wild animal species. Despite its known importance, there are few studies aboutC. difficile polymerase chain reaction (PCR) ribotypes in Brazil and the actual knowledge is restricted to studies on human isolates. The aim of the study was therefore to compare C. difficileribotypes isolated from humans and animals in Brazil. Seventy-six C. difficile strains isolated from humans (n = 25), dogs (n = 23), piglets (n = 12), foals (n = 7), calves (n = 7), one cat, and one manned wolf were distributed into 24 different PCR ribotypes. Among toxigenic strains, PCR ribotypes 014/020 and 106 were the most common, accounting for 14 (18.4%) and eight (10.5%) samples, respectively. Fourteen different PCR ribotypes were detected among human isolates, nine of them have also been identified in at least one animal species. PCR ribotype 027 was not detected, whereas 078 were found only in foals. This data suggests a high diversity of PCR ribotypes in humans and animals in Brazil and support the discussion of C. difficile as a zoonotic pathogen.

Clostridium perfringens type A netF and netE positive and Clostridium difficile co-infection in two adult dogs

“…It also has been previously described in dogs in several countries [6,18]. In Brazil, ribotype 014/ 020 was previously reported in several animal species, including domestic and wild animals, and also in humans with confirmed CDI [1,10,13,14].…”

Clostridium perfringens and C. difficile in parvovirus-positive dogs

“…Predisposing factors associated with CPAD in dogs are still unknown. It has been speculated that disruption of the normal enteric microbiota, associated with sudden change in the diet may lead to overgrowth of C. perfringens and diarrhea [30]. In turn, all three dogs positive for enterotoxigenic C. perfringens in the present study were fed only commercial feed.…”

“…Once C. perfringens belongs to the enteric microbiota, detection of this agent in diarrheic dogs is not confirmatory diagnosis [30,38]. Conversely, previous studies have shown a putative association between isolation of C. perfringens cpe þ and diarrhea, suggesting that the CPE might be at least partially responsible for CPAD in dogs [2,18,21,29,33,37].…”

“…Previous studies have shown an association between isolation of enterotoxigenic C. perfringens and canine diarrhea, but it is known that these strains can be isolated from healthy dogs. Thus, although these methods could suggest that C. perfringens is involved, they are not confirmatory [30]. More recently, two poreforming toxins (NetE and NetF) that are always present in C. perfringens type A cpe þ strains, were recently described in a strong association with fatal canine hemorrhagic gastroenteritis [14].…”

“…However, enterotoxigenic C. perfringens or CPE can be found in healthy dogs. Thus, although these methods could suggest that C. perfringens is involved, they are not confirmatory [30]. Recently, studies have shown that two poreforming toxins (NetE, NetF) present in C. perfringens type A strains are strongly associated with canine hemorrhagic gastroenteritis [8,14], suggesting these toxin-encoding genes could be used as virulence markers to diagnose CPAD in dogs.…”