Typhlocolitis associated with Clostridium difficile ribotypes 078 and 110 in neonatal piglets from a commercial Irish pig herd.

ABSTRACT: Clostridium difficile is a recognised cause of typhlocolitis and diarrhoea in neonatal pigs but has never been confirmed in association with pathology and disease in Irish pigs.Four neonatal piglets, with a history of diarrhoea were referred to the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory, Backweston for necropsy. They were from a fully integrated, commercial pig farm with approximately 1000 sows. Three piglets had acute, superficial, erosive and suppurative typhlocolitis and the other had mild suppurative mesocolitis. Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) toxins A/B were detected using ELISA in the colonic contents from each piglet. C. difficile isolates from two of the piglets were PCR-ribotyped as 078 and an isolate from a third pig was ribotyped as 110.This is the first report confirming C. difficile in association with typhlocolitis in Irish pigs.

SUBMITTER: McElroy MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4992205 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature