Die nekrotisierende Enteritis des Saugferkels durch Clostridium perfringens Typ C : II. Molekularepidemiologische Studie

Abstract

Investigations were performed on shedding of C. perfringens in sows from four different pig farms. In two farms where no outbreaks of necrotizing enteritis had been observed, no strains of C. perfringens producing beta-toxin were detected in the faeces of sows. In contrast, C. perfringens strains producing beta-toxin were detected in sows on both farms suffering outbreaks of acute necrotizing enteritis. Strains of C. perfringens producing beta-toxin were invariably positive for the beta 2-toxin gene. However, strains carrying the beta 2-toxin gene only (i.e. negative for beta-toxin) were present in animals on all farms with roughly similar frequencies (mean 28.2% carriers). Some sows carried C. perfringens strains of both toxin genotypes simultaneously. Whereas these data further support the role of betatoxin as a cause of necrotizing enteritis, the role of beta 2-toxin in intestinal disease of piglets remains unclear. To establish the role of faecal shedding vs. environmental contamination as reservoirs of C. perfringens type C, strains were isolated from teats and feedlot trough swabs (toxin genotype beta/beta 2), as well as from fodder (genotype beta 2). However, sows carried this pathogen intermittently and in small numbers. This renders an individual, reliable diagnosis of carrier sows very difficult. Ribotyping of 34 C. perfringens isolates of different toxin genotypes showed five distinct profiles. Different toxin genotypes can belong to the same ribotype, and the same toxin genotype can be present in different ribotypes. Thus, even if a majority (79.4%) of strains investigated in a limited geographic region belonged to ribotype 1, ribotyping offered discrimination of strains beyond toxin typing.

Retrospective study on necrotizing enteritis in piglets in Switzerland

“…perfringens type C strains are known to cause severe necrotizing enteritis in suckling piglets. In Switzerland, this disease remains to be a problem in swine production despite the availability of commercial C. perfringens type C vaccines (Gut et al, 2002;Luginbühl, 2002). Emerging reports of 2-toxigenic C. perfringens as potential additional cause of enteric disease in piglets (Klaasen et al, 1999;Garmory et al, 2000;Bueschel et al, 2003), increasing concern about the spread of the disease to and also from Swiss stock breeding farms led us to re-evaluate the association of necrotizing enteritis with C. perfringens type C in Switzerland.…”