Abstract
We investigated Clostridium difficile in calves and the similarity between bovine and human C. difficile PCR ribotypes by conducting a case-control study of calves from 102 dairy farms in Canada. Fecal samples from 144 calves with diarrhea and 134 control calves were cultured for C. difficile and tested with an ELISA for C. difficile toxins A and B. C. difficile was isolated from 31 of 278 calves: 11 (7.6%) of 144 with diarrhea and 20 (14.9%) of 134 controls (p = 0.009). Toxins were detected in calf feces from 58 (56.8%) of 102 farms, 57 (39.6%) of 144 calves with diarrhea, and 28 (20.9%) of 134 controls (p = 0.0002). PCR ribotyping of 31 isolates showed 8 distinct patterns; 7 have been identified in humans, 2 of which have been associated with outbreaks of severe disease (PCR types 017 and 027). C. difficile may be associated with calf diarrhea, and cattle may be reservoirs of C. difficile for humans.
Highlights
We investigated Clostridium difficile in calves and the similarity between bovine and human C. difficile PCR ribotypes by conducting a case-control study of calves from 102 dairy farms in Canada
This study has demonstrated that shedding of C. difficile is common in dairy calves in Ontario regardless whether they have enteric disease
That shedding of C. difficile was more common in control animals was surprising, because 96.7% of the isolates were toxigenic
Summary
We investigated Clostridium difficile in calves and the similarity between bovine and human C. difficile PCR ribotypes by conducting a case-control study of calves from 102 dairy farms in Canada. C. difficile was isolated from 31 of 278 calves: 11 (7.6%) of 144 with diarrhea and 20 (14.9%) of 134 controls (p = 0.009). Toxins were detected in calf feces from 58 (56.8%) of 102 farms, 57 (39.6%) of 144 calves with diarrhea, and 28 (20.9%) of 134 controls (p = 0.0002). PCR ribotyping of 31 isolates showed 8 distinct patterns; 7 have been identified in humans, 2 of which have been associated with outbreaks of severe disease (PCR types 017 and 027). Some strains produce binary toxin, which is encoded by the genes cdtA and cdtB located outside PaLoc [10]. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the role of C. difficile in NCD, genotypically and phenotypically characterize isolates from calves, and compare calf and human isolates
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