Clostridium difficilein foods and animals: history and measures to reduce exposure

Abstract

Many articles have summarized the changing epidemiology of Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) in humans, but the emerging presence of C. difficile in foods and animals and possible measures to reduce human exposure to this important pathogen have been infrequently addressed. CDIs have traditionally been assumed to be restricted to health-care settings. However, recent molecular studies indicate that this is no longer the case; animals and foods might be involved in the changing epidemiology of CDIs in humans; and genome sequencing is disproving person-to-person transmission in hospitals. Although zoonotic and foodborne transmission have not been confirmed, it is evident that susceptible people can be inadvertently exposed to C. difficile from foods, animals, or their environment. Strains of epidemic clones present in humans are common in companion and food animals, raw meats, poultry products, vegetables, and ready-to-eat foods, including salads. In order to develop science-based prevention strategies, it is critical to understand how C. difficile reaches foods and humans. This review contextualizes the current understanding of CDIs in humans, animals, and foods. Based on available information, we propose a list of educational measures that could reduce the exposure of susceptible people to C. difficile. Enhanced educational efforts and behavior change targeting medical and non-medical personnel are needed.

Isolation and genotyping of Clostridium perfringens and Clostridium difficile in Capuchin Monkeys (Sapajus spp.)

“…(ROLLAND et al, 1997). C. difficile has been reported in few other wild species, and it seems to be more common in synanthropic rodents and in captive animals under antibiotic therapy (SILVA et al, 2013;JARDINE et al, 2013;RODRIGUEZ-PALACIOS et al, 2013;HIMSWORTH et al, 2014;SILVA et al, 2014a;SILVA et al, 2014b). As this was not the case in the present study, the absence of C. difficile in the sampled animals was not a surprise.…”

“…Despite the known importance of NHP as reservoirs of human pathogens, there are few studies focusing specifically on capuchin monkeys (BATISTA et al, 2013;ROCHA et al, 2015). Silva et al Clostridium difficile is a major nosocomial pathogen in humans and causes diarrhea and enterocolitis in domestic animals (RODRIGUEZ-PALACIOS et al, 2013). There are few studies about this enteropathogen in wild animals, but confirmed cases of C. difficile infection (CDI) have been reported in some species (BOJESEN et al, 2006;SILVA et al, 2013).…”

Clostridium difficile in Food and Animals: A Comprehensive Review

“…However, in recent years C. difficile infection (CDI) is increasingly common in the community, in younger patients without a previous history of hospitalisation or antibiotic treatment (Gupta and Khanna 2014). Studies worldwide have reported the presence of the bacterium in animals and foods (Songer and Anderson 2006;Hoover and Rodriguez-Palacios 2013;Rodriguez-Palacios et al 2013) with a prevalence that varies according to the methodology used, the geographical area, the age and the animal species studied. While C. difficile is well known as enteric pathogen in some food producing, wild and companion animal species (Donaldson and Palmer 1999;Songer and Uzal 2005), there are several reports describing the presence of the bacterium in the intestinal contents of apparently healthy animals (Rodriguez et al 2012;Hawken et al 2013).…”

Community-acquired Clostridium difficile infection and Australian food animals

“…difficile is an enteric pathogen of companion animals (cats, dogs, horses) and food animals (cattle, sheep, goats, pigs) 13,14 . Neonates are typically colonised with C. difficile due to the lack of colonisation resistance afforded by mature intestinal microflora; hence prevalence decreases with age 15,16 .…”