Study Of Toxin Types, Genetic Diversity And Antimicrobial Resistance Of Clostridium Perfringens Isolated From Infected Rabbits In Qingdao Area

Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) can cause both clinical and subclinical diseasein rabbits, therefore leading to serious economic loss. In recent years, rabbitry of Qingdaodeveloped rapidly, and large-scale rabbit farms also grew rapidly, but with the development oflarge-scale rabbit farms and antibiotics increasingly stringent restrictions at home and abroad,the disease of C. perfringens became even more serious.This study aimed to examine themain toxic types and genetic diversity of C. perfringens isolated from the suspected rabbitswith clostridial disease. Between November2011and May2012, we collected the liver ofsuspected rabbits from large-scale rabbit farms in Qingdao region to obtain the C. perfringens,and then Multiple-PCR and ERIC-PCR were respectively used to analyze the toxic types andgenetic diversity. The results showed that a total of25strains of C. perfringens were collected;among all isolates analyzed with Multiple-PCR,24strains belonged to the toxin A (96%), andonly one was the toxin C (4%); ERIC-PCR differentiated25strains into9different subtypes(Ⅰ-Ⅸ), and Ⅴ was the dominant genotype. In conclusion, the results provide useful andreliable information for C. perfringens diagnosis and prevention in Qingdao region.On this basis, in order to learn more the changes in toxin types, genetic diversity andantimicrobial resistance of Clostridium perfringens(C.perfringens)isolated from infectedrabbits in Qingdao area in recent years,15C.perfringens strains isolated from infected rabbitsin Qingdao area during2006and2012, were respectively selected to analyze their toxin types,genetic diversity and antimicrobial resistance by Multiple-PCR, ERIC-PCR and drugsensitive slips method. The results showed that all C.perfringens strains isolated in2006weretype A, positive rates of β2toxin, enterotoxin and NetB toxin were11.3%,0,0respectively,while among15C.perfringens strains isolated in2012,14strains belonged to type A,1strains were type C, positive rates of β2toxin, enterotoxin and NetB toxin were40%,0,0. ERIC-PCRdifferentiated30strains into14different subtypes (I-XIV),15isolates collected in2006distributed in8subtypes and V was the dominant genotype, while the other strains isolated in2012belonged to8subtypes and III,XI were the main genotypes.Compared with theisolates of2006, C.perfringens strains isolated on2012enhanced their antimicrobialresistance to cephalothin,doxycycline, vancomycin and penicillin. The research not onlyconfirmed the change of toxin types,genetic diversity and antimicrobial resistance ofC.perfringens isolates from Qingdao area in recent years, but also provided experimentalbasis for preventing and controlling this disease in the future.