Isolation of Clostridium perfringens from swine carcasses and feces

Abstract

Bacterial hazards are the major concern in the production of food of animal origin. Clostridium perfringens is a common cause of food-borne illness. The illness is characterized by profuse diarrhea and acute abdominal pain. At this study 30 carcass swabs from dorsal area and 30 fecal samples from a swine abattoir were analyzed over C. perfringens presence. The frequen- cy of agent in carcasses was 40% and in fecal samples 73.2%. The forty-seven isolated strains were characterized by PCR for the presence of genes codifying the enterotoxin, alpha, beta, epsilon, iota and beta-2 toxins. All strains were positive for presence of alpha and beta 2 toxin gene, and were classified as type A. None were positive to enterotoxin gene through PCR. Single enzyme amplified fragment length polymorphism (SE-AFLP) analyses were used to characterize 47 C. perfringens strains and revealed two common profiles among fecal and carcass strains. Introduction Clostridium perfringens is the etiologic agent of multiple syndromes in domestic animals, some of the most important conditions that producers and veterinary practitioners have to face (Songer, 1998; Klaasen, 1999). The various toxins produced by the bacteria play key roles in the pathogenesis of the disease and are divided into five biotypes, designated A through E, based on the production of alpha- (a-), beta- (b-), epsilon- (S-), and iota- (i-) toxins. The a-toxin is produced by all types, b-toxin is produced by type B and C strains, S-toxin is produced by type B and D strains, and i-toxin is produced by type E strains (Garmory et al., 2000). Different biotypes of C. perfringens are associated with different diseases. Type A enterotoxigenic strains are a com- mon cause of food poisoning outbreaks worldwide. Type C, is generally considered to be the pri- mary cause of necrotic enteritis in piglets. In addition to the major toxins, other toxins may play a