Genotyping of Clostridium perfringens strains in rabbits affected by epizootic enteropathy | Genotipado de cepas de Clostridium perfringens en conejos afectados por enteropatía epizootica
2011
Menoyo, D., Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (España). Dept. de Producción Animal | García, C., Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (España). Dept. de Producción Animal | Jarava, M., Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (España). Dept. de Producción Animal | De Blas, C., Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (España). Dept. de Producción Animal
Epizootic Rabbit Enteropathy (ERE) has become a major disease affecting intensive European farms. Although, the economic losses due to this disease are considerable, the aetiological agent or agents remain to be identified. Clostridium perfringens has been shown to play an important role in the development of ERE. Clostridium perfringens is an anaerobic, Gram-positive spore-forming bacterium that produces several pathogenic toxins associated with enteric diseases in domestic animals and humans. In the present work Clostridium perfringens toxin genes (alpha, beta, epsilon, iota, beta-2 and the enterotoxin) were studied by duplex PCR in DNA extracts from contents of the rabbit gastrointestinal tract and soft faeces to identify toxinotypes associated with the ERE. To this end a total of 72 rabbits displaying ERE symptoms were used. Most of the Clostridium perfringens isolated from diseased animals were classified as toxinotype A (62.5% of samples). The genotype alpha was the most abundant (58.3%) but also alpha-beta2 and alpha-cpe genotypes were found. Finally two strains of Clostridium perfringens isolated were classified as toxinotype E having the gene encoding the iota toxin. It is concluded that strains of Clostridium perfringens isolated from rabbits affected by ERE are mainly classified as toxinotype A.
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