Prevalence of Clostridium perfringens infection and virulence genes molecular study in broiler chickens

Rizk, Amira Mohamed; Abd El-Tawab, Ashraf Awad; El- Bardisy, Mohammed Makin; Mayouf, Shreen

doi:10.21608/bvmj.2020.23619.1162

Prevalence of Clostridium perfringens infection and virulence genes molecular study in broiler chickens

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ bacteriology,immunology and mycology department,veterinary medicine faculty,Benha university,Benha city,Egypt.

² Bacteriology, Immunology, and Mycology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Benha University, Benha, Egypt

³ Chief researcher of bacteriology, Animal Health Research Institute, Dokki Giza, Egypt.

⁴ A Veterinarian, Al-Sharqia, Egypt

10.21608/bvmj.2020.23619.1162

Abstract

Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) produces toxins that cause necrotic enteritis (NE) in broiler chickens resulting in sever losses in poultry industry. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of C. perfringens in broiler chickens in Toukh, Qaliubiya governorate, Egypt. A total of 100 broilers (10-40 days old) collected from Toukh, Qaliubiya in 2017. The samples were collected from liver and intestine of both diseased and apparently healthy broilers. All samples were subjected to bacteriological examination. Clostridium Perfringens was isolated from (70%) and (22%) of diseased and apparently healthy broilers respectively. The isolates were typed by dermonecrotic test in Guinea pig and PCR. The results of dermonecrotic test from diseased chickens showed that 40 (65.6%) of the diseased isolates were type A and 8 (13.1%) were type D. But the isolates from the apparently healthy chickens were (9) type A and (6) type D. Typing of the 9 C.Perferingens isolates (diseased broilers) by PCR for toxin genes (cpa ,cpb, etx ) showed that 8 strains were positive for cpa gene (typed as type A). Detection of the virulence genes by PCR showed, pfoS and colA genes were in (8) isolates but netB gene was detected in (3) isolates only. Clostridium perfringens showed high prevalence among diseased broiler chickens with high isolation rate from intestinal sample than hepatic samples. Moreover, high percentage of C.perfringens are toxigenic type A in case of diseased or apparently healthy broiler chickens. The netB gene seems to be unnecessary for inducing necrotic enteritis in broiler chickens.

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