Molecular typing and epidemiological survey of prevalence of Clostridium perfringens types by multiplex PCR.

Clostridium perfringens has been classified into five toxigenic types (A through E) on the basis of its capability to produce major lethal toxins (alpha, beta, epsilon, and iota toxins). Seroneutralization with mice or guinea pigs has been used to type each toxin, but this conventional method has some disadvantages. Therefore, we used a molecular biological technique to type the bacterium in the present study. A multiplex PCR was developed for this purpose. This method has several advantages in comparison with seroneutralization with mice or guinea pigs. By this method, we also investigated the most prevalent type(s) of the organism in Korean calves, piglets, and chickens showing clinical symptoms such as diarrhea, enterotoxemia, and necrotic enteritis. Only type A was isolated from calves and chickens, while type C (2 of 14 isolates), in addition to type A, was isolated from piglets. These results suggested that seroneutralization could be replaced by our new method and that type A of C. perfringens is the most prevalent type in livestock in Korea.