Document Type : Research article
Authors
1
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, South Valley University, Qena, Egypt
2
Department of Microbiology, Animal Health Research Institute, Sohag, Egypt
Abstract
A significant foodborne pathogen as Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) has been linked to many diseases in sheep and goat, included; Enterotoxaemia, pulpy kidney disease,struck, and even animal mortality. So, The objective of this study is to discuss the presence of C. perfringens in small ruminants with focusing on the virulence factors, antimicrobial resistance profile, and biofilm-forming capacities of the organism. A total 166 samples, (95 from sheep, 71 from goats) collected from apparently healthy, diarrheic animals and dead carcasses suspected to be infected with enterotoxaemia in Sohag, Egypt. These samples were subjected for Animal health research institute lab for microbiological examination. The phenotypic identification revealed that 25 isolates (15.1%) were Clostridium spp. 10 isolates were identified as C. perfringens by PCR using a species-specific 16S rRNA gene. The results of multiplex PCR, revealed that the cpa gene, which is responsible for C. perfringens toxintype A, had the highest prevalence (90%) followed by the cpe gene, which is responsible for type F, while none of the isolates had the cpb, etx, and iap genes. Phenotypically, the majority of the isolates displayed multidrug resistance (MDR) patterns for, vancomycin, tetracycline , oxacillin, and piperacillin,. erythromycin and ceftazidime and whereas genetically, our isolates had the bla(70%), ermB (40%) and tetK (30%) genes. Our isolates demonstrated a moderate (10%) and weak (60%) ability to form biofilm.
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