Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Abingdon Road, Tubney House, Tubney, Oxfordshire, OX13 5QL, UK.
Cook's Lake Farming Forestry and Wildlife Inc (Ecological Consultancy), Queens County, NS, Canada.
Ecohealth. 2021 Dec;18(4):440-450. doi: 10.1007/s10393-021-01568-2. Epub 2021 Dec 6.
Clostridium perfringens is an important food-borne zoonotic pathogen and a member of the commensal gut microbiome of many mammals. Predisposing factors such as coinfection with other pathogens or diet change can, however, cause overgrowth and subsequent disease development. Here we investigated the occurrence of C. perfringens in a free-ranging badger population with up to 100% prevalence of herpesvirus infection. Herpesvirus reactivation is known to be associated with increased susceptibility bacterial infections. PCR screening of rectal swabs from 69 free-ranging badgers revealed 15.9% (11/69, 95% CI = 9.1-26.3%) prevalence of detectable C. perfringens (Type A) DNA in the digestive tracts of assymptomatic animals. The results of Fisher's exact test revealed C. perfringens detection was not biased by age, sex and seasons. However, badgers with genital tract gammaherpesvirus (MusGHV-1) reactivation (p = 0.007) and infection with a specific MusGHV-1 genotype (p = 0.019) were more prone to of C. perfringens proliferation, indicating coinfection biased dynamics of intestinal C. perfringens. An inclusion pattern analysis further indicated that, causally, MusGHV-1 reactivation potentiated C. perfringens detection. Whether or not specific MusGHV-1 genotype infection or reactivation plays a role in C. perfringens overgrowth or disease development in badgers will require further investigation. Nevertheless, a postmortem examination of a single badger that died of fatal disease, likely associated with C. perfringens, revealed MusGHV-1 detection in the small intestine.
产气荚膜梭菌是一种重要的食源性病原体，也是许多哺乳动物共生肠道微生物组的成员。然而，共生病原体的共感染或饮食改变等诱发因素可能导致过度生长和随后的疾病发展。在这里，我们调查了一个具有高达 100%疱疹病毒感染流行率的自由放养獾群中产气荚膜梭菌的发生情况。已知疱疹病毒的再激活与增加对细菌感染的易感性有关。对 69 只自由放养獾的直肠拭子进行 PCR 筛查，发现无症状动物的消化道中有 15.9%（11/69，95%CI=9.1-26.3%）可检测到产气荚膜梭菌（A型）DNA。Fisher 确切检验的结果表明，产气荚膜梭菌的检测不受年龄、性别和季节的影响。然而，生殖道γ疱疹病毒（MusGHV-1）再激活（p=0.007）和特定 MusGHV-1 基因型感染（p=0.019）的獾更容易发生产气荚膜梭菌增殖，表明肠道产气荚膜梭菌的共感染偏倚动态。纳入模式分析进一步表明，MusGHV-1 的再激活因果上增强了产气荚膜梭菌的检测。特定的 MusGHV-1 基因型感染或再激活是否在獾中产气荚膜梭菌过度生长或疾病发展中起作用，还需要进一步研究。然而，对一只死于可能与产气荚膜梭菌有关的致命疾病的单个獾的尸检显示，在小肠中检测到 MusGHV-1。
