Prevalence of Clostridium tetani and Clostridium botulinum strains in cattle and environments in Korea

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Kichan Lee, Seulki Kim, Hye-Yeon Park and Hee-Soo Lee

Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, Republic of Korea

: J Immunol Tech Infect Dis

Abstract

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Clostridium tetani and Clostridium botulinum, respectively, produce botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) and tetanus neurotoxin (TeTx), which is responsible for severe disease, botulism and tetanus. Several cattle botulism and tetanus occurred sporadically in Korea recently. Since these diseases could become a potential hazard to livestock industries, we investigated the distribution of C. tetani and C. botulinum in various samples of cattle farms in Korea. A total of 819 samples including cattle feces, stomach contents, hay and silages, soils, water trough were collected during 2012 to 2014, and incubated with anaerobic condition. The enrichment cultures were subjected to multiplex PCR developed in our laboratory for screening the presence of C. tetani and C. botulinum type B, C and D, and mouse neutralization test was also used for determination of the toxin type. Thirty six C. tetani were isolated from soils, 36 from feces, 24 from gastric contents, 7 from forage, and 11 from other sources. According to multiplex PCR, toxigenic strains were 99 (86%) of C. tetani isolates and non-toxigenic ones 15 (14%) of the isolates were non-toxigenic. Eight C. botulinum type B strains were isolated from forage and water trough, 1 C/D mosaic type from stomach contents and 18 type D from feces, stomach contents, water trough and forage. These studies demonstrated that C. tetani and C. botulinum were prevalent in cattle farms in Korea.

Biography

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