Identification of risk factors influencing Clostridium difficile prevalence in middle-size dairy farms

Abstract

Farm animals have been suggested to play an important role in the epidemiology of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in the community. The purpose of this study was to evaluate risk factors associated with C. difficile dissemination in family dairy farms, which are the most common farming model in the European Union. Environmental samples and fecal samples from cows and calves were collected repeatedly over a 1 year period on 20 mid-size family dairy farms. Clostridium difficile was detected in cattle feces on all farms using qPCR. The average prevalence between farms was 10% (0–44.4%) and 35.7% (3.7–66.7%) in cows and calves, respectively. Bacterial culture yielded 103 C. difficile isolates from cattle and 61 from the environment. Most C. difficile isolates were PCR-ribotype 033. A univariate mixed effect model analysis of risk factors associated dietary changes with increasing C. difficile prevalence in cows (P = 0.0004); and dietary changes (P = 0.004), breeding Simmental cattle (P = 0.001), mastitis (P = 0.003) and antibiotic treatment (P = 0.003) in calves. Multivariate analysis of risk factors found that dietary changes in cows (P = 0.0001) and calves (P = 0.002) increase C. difficile prevalence; mastitis was identified as a risk factor in calves (P = 0.001). This study shows that C. difficile is common on dairy farms and that shedding is more influenced by farm management than environmental factors. Based on molecular typing of C. difficile isolates, it could also be concluded that family dairy farms are currently not contributing to increased CDI incidence.

Clostridial Abomasitis and Enteritis in Ruminants

“…108 In otherwise healthy veal calves, CDI has been reported to be as high as 51%. 109 C difficile shedding has also been detected in dairy cows, 110 feedlot cattle, 111 sheep, 112 and goats. 113 Hammitt and colleagues 114 found C difficile and its toxins (toxin A and toxin B) in 25.3% and 22.9%, respectively, of calves with diarrhea.…”

Dissemination ofClostridium difficilein food and the environment: Significant sources ofC. difficilecommunity-acquired infection?

“…; Bandelj et al . ). In addition to resistance, genes for antibiotic biosynthesis have been identified in strains of C. difficile ribotype 078 that, if expressed, could potentially confer a competitive advantage within the gastrointestinal tract environment (Knetsch et al .…”

“…Young animals typically have the highest prevalence of C. difficile with higher carriage being associated with herds being provided medicated feed, or those carrying underlying infections such as mastitis in the case of dairy farms (Bandelj et al . ).…”

Retracted: Prevalence, antibiotic resistance, and toxigenic gene profile of the Clostridium difficile isolated from molluscan shellfish

“…The role of contaminated foods and especially foods with animal origins has been emerged as one of the main predisposing factors for occurrence of CDI (Hensgens et al, ). Documented epidemiological surveys revealed the high impact of contaminated meat (Visser et al, ), milk (Bandelj et al, ; 10), vegetable (DS Metcalf, Costa, Dew, & Weese, ), salad (Bakri, Brown, Butcher, & Sutherland, ), water (Kotila et al, ), and marine foods (Devon Metcalf et al, ) as main sources for transmission of C. difficile into the human population.…”