Toxin genotyping of Clostridium perfringens field strains isolated from healthy and diseased chickens.

摘要

Clostridium perfringens is well known as the aetiological agent of necrotic enteritis in chickens. Type A and type C are considered the C. perfringens toxin types responsible for this disease. The aim of this study was to determine the presence of genes coding for alpha , beta , epsilon , iota , beta 2 and enterotoxin in C. perfringens field strains collected from healthy and diseased chickens in Italy. 37 C. perfringens field strains were toxin typed. All strains turned out to be toxin type A, and 3 of these tested positive for the presence of the toxin beta 2 coding gene. Four isolates showed the cpa gene with the insertion of a group II intron. Our findings confirm the most recent results reported from different countries and the data suggest that the role of C. perfringens type C should be revaluated in the aetiopathogenesis of necrotic enteritis.