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Clostridium difficile PCR ribotype 078 toxinotype V found in diarrhoeal pigs identical to isolates from affected humans |
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| Authors: | Sylvia B Debast Leo A M G van Leengoed Abraham Goorhuis Celine Harmanus Ed J Kuijper Aldert A Bergwerff |
| Institution: | Department of Medical Microbiology, Meander Medical Centre, Amersfoort, the Netherlands.; Utrecht University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Farm Animal Health, Internal Medicine Division, Utrecht, the Netherlands.; Leiden University Medical Center, Department of Medical Microbiology, Center of Infectious Diseases, Reference Laboratory for Clostridium Difficile, Leiden, the Netherlands.; Utrecht University, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Veterinary Public Health Division, Utrecht, the Netherlands. |
| Abstract: | In diseased piglets from two Dutch pig-breeding farms with neonatal diarrhoea for more than a year, culture and PCR analyses identified the involved microorganism as Clostridium difficile PCR ribotype 078 harbouring toxin A ( tcdA ) and B ( tcdB ), and binary toxin genes. Isolated strains showed a 39 bp deletion in the tcdC gene and they were ermB gene-negative. A number of 11 porcine and 21 human isolated C. difficile PCR ribotype 078 toxinotype V strains were found genetically related by multiple-locus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis (MLVA). Moreover, a clonal complex was identified, containing both porcine and human isolates. The porcine isolates showed an antimicrobial susceptibility profile overlapping that of isolates from Dutch human patients. On the basis of these pheno- and genotypical analyses results, it was concluded that the strains from affected piglets were indistinguishable from increasingly encountered C. difficile PCR ribotype 078 strains of human C. difficile infections in the Dutch population and that a common origin of animal and humans strains should be considered. |
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