Rodents are carriers of Clostridioides difficile strains similar to those isolated from piglets.

• Published in: Anaerobe
• Main Authors: de Oliveira, C.A., de Paula Gabardo, M., Guedes, RMC, Poncet, F., Blanc, D.S., Lobato, FCF, Silva, ROS
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Animals; Bacterial Toxins/analysis; Bacteriological Techniques; Carrier State/microbiology; Carrier State/veterinary; Clostridium Infections/microbiology; Clostridium Infections/veterinary; Clostridium difficile/classification; Clostridium difficile/genetics; Clostridium difficile/isolation & purification; Disease Reservoirs/microbiology; Feces/microbiology; Genotype; Immunoenzyme Techniques; Multilocus Sequence Typing; Rodentia/microbiology; Swine; Swine Diseases/microbiology; Clostridium difficile; Mice; Mus musculus; Rats; Rattus rattus; Eia
• Online Access: https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_79FCE777353A; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anaerobe.2018.04.006

Features of Clostridioides difficile transmission in swine and the role of rodents as C. difficile reservoir are not clear. To investigate if rodents can carry strains of C. difficile that are genetically similar to those isolated from swine, 97 fecal samples from neonatal piglets and 41 intestinal contents from rodents were collected in two farms. All samples were subjected to C. difficile culture and the presence of A/B toxins in piglet feces were accessed by commercial enzyme imunoassay (EIA). C. difficile isolates were typed by double- (DLST) and multi-locus sequence typing (MLST). C. difficile was isolated from 15.5% of piglets and 31.7% of rodents. Most isolates were identified as DLST type 4-4 and 17-5 (both are ST11), which were found in both rodents and piglets. Results of this study suggested that rodents may have a role on the transmission and spread of C. difficile strains to swine.