Andrés-Lasheras Sara, Martín-Burriel Inma, Mainar-Jaime Raúl Carlos, Morales Mariano, Kuijper Ed, Blanco José L, Chirino-Trejo Manuel, Bolea Rosa
Departamento de Patología Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragón - IA2 - (Universidad de Zaragoza-CITA), 50013, Zaragoza, Spain.
Laboratorio de Genética Bioquímica (LAGENBIO), Facultad de Veterinaria, Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragón - IA2 - (Universidad de Zaragoza-CITA), Zaragoza, Spain.
BMC Vet Res. 2018 Mar 9;14(1):77. doi: 10.1186/s12917-018-1402-7.
Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is recognised as an emerging disease in both humans and some animal species. During the past few years, insights into human CDI epidemiology changed and C. difficile is also considered as an emerging community-acquired pathogen. Certain ribotypes (RT) are possibly associated with zoonotic transmission. The objective of this study was to assess the presence of C. difficile in a population of pets and to characterise the isolates.
Faecal samples from a total of 90 diarrhoeic dogs and 24 from exotic animal species (both diarrhoeic and non-diarrhoeic) were analysed. Clostridium difficile was isolated from 6 (6.7%) dogs and one reptile sample (4.2%). Four (66.7%) of the six dog strains were capable of producing toxins. Four known different RTs were detected in dogs (010, 014, 123 and 358) and a new one was found in a faecal sample of an exotic animal. This new RT isolate was negative for all toxin genes tested and belonged to sequence type 347 which has been proposed as a Clade-III member. Importantly, two dog strains showed a stable resistance to metronidazole (initial MIC values: 128 and 48 μg/ml).
The results obtained in this study suggest the implementation of antimicrobial susceptibility surveillance programs to assess the prevalence of metronidazole resistance in dogs; molecular studies to elucidate C. difficile metronidazole resistance mechanisms are warranted. Based on the similarity between the ribotypes observed in dogs and those described in humans, the zoonotic transmission should be further explored. Furthermore, exotic animals have shown to harbor uncommon C. difficile strains which require further genomic studies.
艰难梭菌感染（CDI）在人类和一些动物物种中均被视为一种新发疾病。在过去几年中，对人类CDI流行病学的认识发生了变化，艰难梭菌也被认为是一种新发的社区获得性病原体。某些核糖体分型（RT）可能与人畜共患病传播有关。本研究的目的是评估宠物群体中艰难梭菌的存在情况并对分离株进行特征分析。
对总共90份腹泻犬的粪便样本以及24份外来动物物种（包括腹泻和非腹泻动物）的粪便样本进行了分析。从6只（6.7%）犬和1份爬行动物样本（4.2%）中分离出了艰难梭菌。6株犬源菌株中有4株（66.7%）能够产生毒素。在犬中检测到4种已知的不同RT（010、014、123和358），并且在一份外来动物的粪便样本中发现了一种新的RT。这种新的RT分离株对所有检测的毒素基因均为阴性，属于序列型347，已被提议作为进化枝III的成员。重要的是，2株犬源菌株对甲硝唑表现出稳定的耐药性（初始MIC值分别为128和48μg/ml）。
本研究获得的结果表明应实施抗菌药物敏感性监测计划以评估犬中甲硝唑耐药性的流行情况；开展分子研究以阐明艰难梭菌对甲硝唑的耐药机制是必要的。基于在犬中观察到的核糖体分型与人类中描述的核糖体分型之间的相似性，应进一步探索人畜共患病传播。此外，外来动物已被证明携带不常见的艰难梭菌菌株，这需要进一步的基因组研究。
