Neonatal piglets mesocolon edema and colitis due to Clostridium difficile infection. prevalence, clinical disease and pathological studies (original) (raw)
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Ciência Rural, 2011
Clostridium difficile has emerged as a major cause of neonatal colitis in piglets, displacing classic bacterial pathogens. However, there is no information regarding the distribution of this microorganism in pig farms in Brazil. In the present study, the presence of toxins A/B and of C. difficile strains in stool samples from 60 diarrheic or non-diarrheic newborn piglets (one to seven days old), from 15 different farms, was studied. The presence of toxins A/B was detected by ELISA and PCR was used to identify toxin A, toxin B and binary toxin gene in each isolated strain. C. difficile A/B toxins were detected in ten samples (16.7%). Of these, seven were from diarrheic and three were from non-diarrheic piglets. C. difficile was recovered from 12 out of 60 (20%) fecal samples. Of those, three strains were non-toxigenic (A-B-) and nine were toxigenic. Of the nine toxigenic strains, four were A+B+ strains and five were A-B+ strains. The presence of binary toxin observed in the present s...
Journal of Swine Health and Production
The aim of this study was to compare test performances of three commercial enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) for A and B toxin detection and that of a simple toxigenic culture protocol to the cytotoxicity assay (CTA) as the gold standard for diagnosis of Clostridium difficile-associated enteritis in piglets. A total of 73 piglets submitted to the Veterinary School of Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais were included in this study. Intestinal content was collected from 62 diarrheic and 11 non-diarrheic piglets, 1 to 7 days old. Vero cells were used in the CTA protocol to detect A and B toxins. Fecal samples were inoculated on cycloserine-cefoxitin fructose agar for isolation of C difficile. The EIAs were performed according to the manufacturers' instructions. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were calculated for each EIA and for toxigenic culture against CTA.
Effect of toxin A and B of Clostridium difficile on rabbit ileum and colon
Gut, 1986
The effect of purified toxin A and partially purified toxin B on rabbit ileum and colon was investigated. Toxin A caused tissue damage which was followed by permeability changes and fluid accumulation in both tissues. Toxin A did not increase the permeability of the colon to the extent observed for ileum; secreted fluid contained less protein of plasma origin. Toxin B had no effect on either tissue. Secretory a-id tissue damaging properties of crude C difficile toxins were found. to be due to toxin A.
Neutrophil recruitment in Clostridium difficile toxin A enteritis in the rabbit
Journal of Clinical Investigation, 1994
Neutrophil infiltration is a prominent feature of Clostridium difficile-associated enteritis and colitis. The aim of this study was to examine the importance of neutrophil recruitment and neutrophil-mediated tissue damage in C. difficile toxin A-induced enteritis. Competitive binding experiments using purified 3H-toxin A demonstrated the presence of a single class of medium affinity receptors on rabbit neutrophils (Kd 7 x 10(-8) M). Pertussis toxin and the nonhydrolyzable GTP analog GTPgamma S both inhibited 3H-toxin A binding (by 56 and 65%, respectively), indicating that the rabbit neutrophil toxin A receptor is G protein linked. Toxin A elicited a dose-dependent (25-200 micrograms/ml) stimulation of neutrophil migration in vitro, and this functional effect was also pertussis toxin sensitive (69% inhibition). Treatment of neutrophils with R15.7, a blocking monoclonal antibody to the leuocyte adhesion molecule CD18, inhibited toxin A-stimulated neutrophil migration by 85% in vitro. Pretreatment of rabbits with R15.7 also prevented neutrophil infiltration of toxin A-exposed ileal loops in vivo as determined by histologic examination and by ileal tissue myeloperoxidase levels. Furthermore, R15.7 effected a substantial inhibition of fluid secretion (by 65%), mannitol permeability (by 66%), and histologic damage in toxin A-exposed ileal loops. Anti-CD18 (R15.7) had no inhibitory effect on cholera toxin enterotoxicity. These data demonstrate that C. difficile toxin A is a proinflammatory toxin whose enterotoxic effects are substantially dependent upon neutrophil recruitment.
Advances in Microbiology, 2013
Clostridium difficile and C. perfringens are enteric pathogens affecting a variety of mammals. This study evaluated the molecular enterotoxigenicity of Clostridium swine isolates by PCRs. One hundred and ten swine faeces were analyzed by culture assay. The faecal samples were from sixty-seven healthy animals and 43 with gastrointestinal tract disease. C. difficile strains were PCR-screened for the presence of tcdA/tcdB and cdtA/cdtB genes. All C. perfringens isolates were tested for the characterization of the toxinotype. Overall, sixty-five swine resulted positive: 38 for C. difficile and 17 for C. perfringens. One sample tested C. perfringens and C. difficile-positive, at the same time: on the whole, 39 C. difficile strains were isolated. Thirty-eight C. difficile isolates (all from healthy animals) resulted tcdA/tcdB and cdtA/cdtBnegative by PCRs and toxins A/B-negative by immunological tests. All C. perfringens strains were type A; eight were also cpb2-positive. In the sample (diarrhoeic), with double infection, C. difficile tested tcdA/tcdB and cdtA/cdtB-positive by PCRs and toxins A/B-positive by immunoassays; C. perfringens resulted cpb2-positive. The molecular genotypeing/toxinotyping should be applied to establish a final diagnosis and to assess properly the full implications and the epidemiological impact of these findings in particular in samples of healthy animals and aid in the development of effective intervention methods for controlling clostridial disease outbreaks.
Toxin a of Clostridium Difficile: Production, Purification and Effect in Mouse Intestine
Acta Pathologica Microbiologica Scandinavica Series B: Microbiology, 2009
A of Closrridium diSficile: production, purification and effect in mouse intestine. Acta path. microbiol. immunol. scand. Sect. B. 9/: 395-400. 1983. Closrridium dxficile produces one diarrhoeogenic toxin designed A, and one cytopathogenic toxin designed B. Toxin A was purified in a four-step-fractionation procedure. In the last purification step the toxin was separated by elution with galactose from an agarose gel. The purified toxin A induced a clear and watery hypersecretion in intestinal loops of mouse. while mixtures of toxin A and B induced a haemorrhagic secretion. At an EDSO value for the purified toxin A of 0.5 pg there was a brief. optimal hypersecretion after four hours. Like the fluid secretion induced by cholera toxin, that induced by toxin A could be inhibited by chlorpromazine or by depletion of intestinal bile. In contrast to cholera toxin. however, toxin A did not activate intestinal adenylate cyclaseat least not permanently. Antisera which neutralized cholera toxin did not neutralize toxin A. and vice versa.
Clostridium difficile in Swine: Zoonotic Transfer and the Potential Consequences
2019
Clostridium difficile is an anaerobic, gram-positive, spore-forming bacterium that can infect both animals and humans. C. difficile infection (CDI) is a toxin-mediated disease that can result in the production of three main virulence factors: toxin A, toxin B and binary toxin. Newborn piglets are highly susceptible to CDI, however age decreases the chances of colonization. Prevention and treatment strategies are limited, and there is currently no commercially available treatment option for CDI. However, treatment methods and prevention strategies using a nontoxigenic C. difficile strain and equine-origin antitoxins have been explored and show preliminary promising results. With evidence of possible zoonotic transfer increasing, agriculture and medical professionals should take action to prevent the spread of C. difficile. Consequences including economic loss and decline in consumer confidence could result if a highly virulent resistant strain of C. difficile emerged and caused an increase in morbidity and mortality rates among pigs and humans. Clostridium difficile in Neonatal Piglets Clostridium difficile is an anaerobic, gram-positive, spore-forming bacterium present in both animals and humans (Squire and Riley 2013). Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) occurs in organisms with a compromised immune system and those with disrupted gut floras. C. difficile is one of the leading causes of enteritis in newborn piglets and it produces three main virulent toxins: toxin A, toxin B, and binary toxin (Abt, McKenney and Pamer 2016). Colonization can occur within 48 hours of birth in virtually 100% of neonates (Hopman et al. 2011). Within swine herds, C. difficile is shown to have the ability to impact, on average, two-thirds of litters, causing