Clostridium perfringens associated with dairy farm systems show diverse genotypes

Nunes Dos Santos, Rui Andre, Abdel-Nour, Jiryes, McAuley, Cathy, Moore, Sean C., Fegan, Narelle and Fox, Edward M. (2022) Clostridium perfringens associated with dairy farm systems show diverse genotypes. International Journal of Food Microbiology, 382. p. 109933. ISSN 0168-1605

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2022.109933

Abstract

Clostridium perfringens is a bacterial species of importance to both public and animal health. Frequently found in food system environments, it presents a risk to food animal health such as dairy herds, and may cross contaminate associated ingredients or food products, with potential to cause sporadic and outbreaks of disease in human populations, including gastroenteric illness. In this study, we characterized C. perfringens isolated from bovine, caprine, and ovine dairy farm systems (n = 8, 11 and 4, respectively). Isolates were phenotypically screened for antimicrobial sensitivity profiling, and subjected to whole genome sequencing to elucidate related genetic markers, as well as examine virulence gene markers, mobile genetic elements, and other features. Both toxin type A and type D isolates were identified (78 % and 22 % of isolates, respectively), including 20 novel sequence types. Resistance to clindamycin was most prevalent among antibiotics screened (30 %), followed by erythromycin (13 %), then penicillin and tetracycline (4 %), although an additional 3 isolates were non-susceptible to tetracycline. Most isolates harboured plasmids, which mobilised virulence markers such as etx, cpb2, and resistance markers tetA(P), tetB(P), and erm(Q), on conjugative plasmids. The presence of type D isolates on caprine farms emphasizes the need for control efforts to prevent infection and potential enterotoxemia. Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin (cpe) was not identified, suggesting lower risk of gastrointestinal illness from contaminated foods, the presence of other virulence and antimicrobial resistance markers suggests farm hygiene remains an important consideration to help ensure food safety of associated dairy foods produced.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Funding information: The authors wish to sincerely thank the farmers involved in this study. The authors also thank Marie Collier for her technical assistance. This work was co-funded by the Victorian government and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.
Uncontrolled Keywords: Clostridium perfringens, Dairy, Genomics, Antimicrobial resistance, Type a, Type D, Plasmids
Subjects: C500 Microbiology
D600 Food and Beverage studies
Department: Faculties > Health and Life Sciences > Applied Sciences
Depositing User: Elena Carlaw
Date Deposited: 21 Sep 2022 08:37
Last Modified: 01 Nov 2022 13:06
URI: https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/50189

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