Enterotoxemia produced by lambda toxin-positive Clostridium perfringens type D in 2 neonatal goat kids - PubMed (original) (raw)
Enterotoxemia produced by lambda toxin-positive Clostridium perfringens type D in 2 neonatal goat kids
Hernando D Acevedo et al. J Vet Diagn Invest. 2023 Jul.
Abstract
Enterotoxemia caused by Clostridium perfringens type D usually affects sheep and goats ≥ 2-wk-old. The main clinical signs and lesions of the disease are produced by the epsilon toxin (ETX) elaborated by this microorganism. However, ETX is produced in the form of a mostly inactive prototoxin that requires protease cleavage for activation. It has traditionally been believed that younger animals are not affected by type D enterotoxemia given the low trypsin activity in the intestinal content associated with the trypsin-inhibitory action of colostrum. Two Nigerian dwarf goat kids, 2- and 3-d-old, with a history of acute diarrhea followed by death, were submitted for postmortem examination and diagnostic workup. Autopsy and histopathology revealed mesocolonic edema, necrosuppurative colitis, and protein-rich pulmonary edema. Alpha toxin and ETX were detected in intestinal content, and C. perfringens type D was isolated from the colon of both animals. The isolates encoded the gene for lambda toxin, a protease that has been shown previously to activate ETX in vitro. Type D enterotoxemia has not been reported previously in neonatal kids, to our knowledge, and we suggest that lambda toxin activated the ETX.
Keywords: Clostridium perfringens type D; enterotoxemia; epsilon toxin; lambda toxin; neonatal goats.
Conflict of interest statement
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Figures
Figures 1–4.
Gross and microscopic changes in 2 neonatal goats with lambda-positive Clostridium perfringens type D enterotoxemia. Figure 1. Diffuse pulmonary edema in kid 2; fibrin strands are present on the pleural surface (arrows). Inset: alveolar proteinaceous edema. H&E. Figure 2. Diffuse colonic congestion and hemorrhage, mesocolonic edema, and fibrin attached to the serosa of the colon in kid 1. Figure 3. Hydropericardium in kid 2. Figure 4. Severe, fibrinonecrotizing colitis in kid 1. Inset, bottom right: higher magnification of necrotic mucosa. Inset, top right: rods in the colonic mucosa. C. perfringens immunohistochemistry.
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