Prevalence and Genotypic Characterization of Clostridium difficile From Ruminants in Switzerland

Abstract

Clostridium difficile is an emerging enteric pathogen of humans and animals with a known main reservoir in the intestinal tract of various warm-blooded animals. This study was carried out to evaluate the prevalence of C. difficile in 150 rectal swab samples collected from cattle and goats in Switzerland. The overall prevalence of C. difficile was 6.6%. The isolates belonged to the PCR ribotypes 033, 066, 070, 003, 001 and 137. In addition, the occurrence of C. difficile in faecal samples collected from farm ground was also evaluated and C. difficile was detected in 21% (7/30) of these samples. These isolates belonged to ribotypes 033, 066, 014 and 137. Several isolates pertained to ribotypes known to cause Clostridium difficile infections in humans.

Keywords

Clostridium difficile; ruminants; cattle; goats; prevalence; Switzerland

Published in

Zoonoses and Public Health
2012, Volume: 59, number: 8, pages: 545-548 Publisher: WILEY-BLACKWELL

SLU Authors

• Krovacek, Karel

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Pathobiology


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1863-2378.2012.01540.x

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/41415