Occurrence of Toxigenic Clostridium difficile among Diarrheic Sheep and Goats in Rural Settings: Public Health Concern

Abstract

Clostridium difficile is a global pathogen with great public health concern. This study was conducted to inquire into the presence of C. difficile amongst diarrheic sheep and goats in rural environments. Fecal samples were collected from 60 diarrheic animals (36 sheep and 24 goats). Samples were cultivated for isolation of C. difficile using selective medium while suspected colonies were confirmed by both serological and molecular techniques. Afterwards, toxigenic C. difficile isolates were recognized using PCR after finding tcdA and tcdB genes encoding toxin A and toxin B, respectively. The overall incidence of C. difficile was 20% (12/60) whereas the prevalence rates were 19.4% and 20.8% for sheep and goats, respectively. Only 3/12 isolates were toxigenic, two isolates (one from sheep and another from a goat) were tcdA-positive, but only one isolate from sheep was tcdB-positive. The phylogenetic analysis of the obtained tcdA gene sequence from sheep revealed that this sequence was grouped in the same clade with those isolated from beef, pig and human case. In conclusion, the current study highlights the occurrence of toxigenic C. difficile strains among diarrheic sheep and goats, a matter which has a high concern in both veterinary medicine and public health.