The Effects of Clostridium perfringens Type A Enterotoxin in Shetland Ponies—Clinical, Morphologic and Clinicopathologic Changes

“…Clostridium perfringens has been suggested to be an etiologic agent, but evidence is lacking. Intravenous injection of C. perfringens enterotoxin (CPE) produced colic, severe shock, and pathological changes typical of colitis X, 21 but enterotoxigenic strains are seldom recovered from cases (unpublished data). Furthermore, CPE is produced in the gut, and there is no evidence that it enters circulation.…”

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confidence: 99%

Equine Colitis X Associated with Infection by Clostridium Difficile NAP1/027

et al. 2009

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Abstract. A 14-year-old Quarter Horse with a 48-hr history of colic was euthanized after failure to respond to treatment. At necropsy, cecal and colonic mucosae were congested throughout, and there was segmental edema and significant thickening of the intestinal wall. Excessive numbers of mononuclear cells were found in mucosal lamina propria. Submucosal hemorrhage was diffuse and extensive, and Clostridium difficile toxins A and B were detected. Large numbers of C. difficile were isolated, and genetic characterization revealed them to be North American pulsed-field gel electrophoresis type 1, polymerase chain reaction ribotype 027, and toxinotype III. Genes for the binary toxin were present, and toxin negative-regulator tcdC contained an 18-bp deletion. This genotype comprises the current human ''epidemic strain,'' which is associated with human C. difficile-associated disease of greater than historical severity. The diagnosis was peracute typhlocolitis, with lesions and history typical of those attributed to colitis X.

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“…Type A is subdivided further into enterotoxigenic and nonenterotoxigenic strains (16). It has been reported that acute colic signs and hemorrhagic gastroenterocolitis could be induced experimentally in Shetland ponies after intravenous injection of enterotoxin obtained from enterotoxigenic C. perfringens type A (12). However, other studies showed that enterotoxigenic C. perfringens isolates do not play a role in intestinal disorders of horses (2).…”

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Prevalence of β2-ToxigenicClostridium perfringensin Horses with Intestinal Disorders

Herholz

Miserez²,

Nicolet³

et al. 1999

J Clin Microbiol

167

113

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The incidence of a new, yet unassigned toxin type ofClostridium perfringens containing the genes for the α-toxin and the recently described β2-toxin in horses with intestinal disorders is reported. The study included 18 horses suffering from typical typhlocolitis, 7 horses with atypical typhlocolitis, 16 horses with other intestinal disorders, and 58 horses without intestinal disease. In total, 20 samples of ingesta of the small and large intestines, five biopsy specimens of the intestinal wall, and 74 fecal samples were analyzed bacteriologically. C. perfringens isolates were typed for the presence of the α-, β-, β2-, and ɛ-toxin and enterotoxin genes by PCR, including a newly developed PCR for the detection of the β2-toxin genecpb2. β2-Toxigenic C. perfringens was detected in samples from 13 of 25 (52%) horses with typical or atypical typhlocolitis, with a particularly high incidence in specimens of ingesta and biopsy specimens (75%), whereas only 6 of 16 specimens from horses with other intestinal diseases yielded β2-toxigenicC. perfringens. No β2-toxigenic C. perfringens was found in the samples from the 58 control horses, of which only one fecal sample contained C. perfringenstype A. Among the samples from the 15 horses with fatal cases of typical and atypical typhlocolitis 9 (60%) were positive for β2-toxigenic C. perfringens, whereas samples from only 4 of the 10 (40%) animals with nonfatal cases of infection were positive. We found an interesting correlation between the antibiotic-treated horses which were positive for β2-toxigenicC. perfringens and lethal progression of the disease. NoC. perfringens strains isolated in this study contained genes for the β- and ɛ-toxins and enterotoxin. The high incidence of β2-toxigenic C. perfringens in samples of ingesta, biopsy specimens of the intestinal wall, and feces from horses suffering or dying from typhlocolitis together with the absence of this organism in healthy horses provides strong evidence that β2-toxigenicC. perfringens play an important role in the pathogenesis of typhlocolitis.

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The Effects of Clostridium perfringens Type A Enterotoxin in Shetland Ponies—Clinical, Morphologic and Clinicopathologic Changes

Cited by 20 publications

References 8 publications

Clostridial enteric diseases of domestic animals

Clostridial enteric diseases of domestic animals

Equine Colitis X Associated with Infection by Clostridium Difficile NAP1/027

Prevalence of β2-ToxigenicClostridium perfringensin Horses with Intestinal Disorders

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