Molecular Characterization of Clostridium perfringens Toxino-types and Type 'D' Multidrug Resistance Profile in Diarrheic Sheep

Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) causes enterotoxemia in animals The bacterium is a normal inhabitant in the gut of animals but become pathogenic and proliferate rapidly whenever finds suitable conditions. It produces large amount of exotoxins, which prove lethal locally as well as systemically. This study focused molecular characterization of different C. perfringens toxins genes i.e. cpa(alpha), cpb(beta), etx(epsilon), and iap(iota) along with C. perfringens type 'D' antimicrobial resistance profile. A total of (n=192) fecal samples from diarrheic sheep were processed and 92.19% (177/192) of the samples were found positive for C. perfringens. Elevated bacterial count (>10(7) CFU/g) was found in 37.85% (67/177) of the positive samples, while, 62.15% (110/177) of the positive samples were in the normal range of bacterial count (10(4)-10(7)CFU/g). Molecular typing of C. perfringens spp was carried out by targeting specific toxin genes using PCR. C. perfringens type 'A' was highly prevalent 60.45% (107/177) among positive isolates, followed by type TY, 'C' and `B' which were 20.90% (37/177), 13.56% (24/177) and 05.08% (09/177) respectively. None of the samples revealed C. perfringens type `E'. The in-vitro antimicrobial resistance profile of C. perfringens type 'D' was evaluated. Penicillin, ciprofloxacin and ceftriaxone were found highly sensitive (100%) while, bacitracin, ampicillin and erythromycin were found resistant against C. perfringens type 'D'. This study concludes that different toxino-types of C. perfringens are present with varying prevalence among sheep in Sargodha division of Pakistan. The bacterium was found resistant to bacitracin, ampicillin and erythromycin while, sensitive to penicillin, ciprofloxacin and ceftriaxone. (C) 2018 PVJ. All rights reserved