Prevalence and genotypic characterization of Clostridium perfringens associated with goat (Capra hircus) enterotoxemia in Southeast Iran

Abstract

Goat enterotoxaemia, a worldwide disease with a high case-fatality rate (up to 100%), is mainly caused by Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) toxinotypes D, C, and B, respectively. Here, the prevalence and genotypic characteristics of C. perfringens in goats were investigated in southeast Iran during 2016–2020. In total, 5300 goats from 57 herds were examined, and 112 strains of C. perfringens were isolated from 142 goats (79 dysenteric and 63 healthy goats with a history of enterotoxemia). PCR tests were conducted on isolates using the 16SrRNA, cpa, cpb, etx, iap, cpe, and netb gene primers. Toxinotyping of C. perfringens isolates revealed that the existing toxinotypes were type D (26.8%), followed by types A and F (25.9% for each), then type B (15.2%), and type C (6.2%). The overall prevalence of C. perfringens at the animal and farm levels was 19.0% and 36.8%, respectively. The isolation rate of C. perfringens from dysenteric goats (30.4%) was significantly higher than that of the healthy goats (p = 0.000). Among the isolates, 44.6% (50 of 112) were PCR positive for the cpe gene. The majority of cpe-positive isolates were characterized as type F (58.0%), followed by types D (28.0%), B (8.0%), and C (6.0%). Dysenteric goats were most likely to yield cpe-positive isolates (94.1%). Our results show the high prevalence of Clostridium perfringens toxinotypes in goats and, for the first time, indicate the presence of type F and cpe-positive type B strains in goat enterotoxemia.