title: Enterotoxemia associated with beta2 toxin-producing Clostridium perfringens type A in two Asiatic black bears (Selenarctos thibetanus).
abstract: Beta2 (beta2) toxin-producing Clostridium perfringens type A strains were found to be associated with necrotic and hemorrhagic intestinal lesions in 2 Asiatic black bears (Selenarctos thibetanus) that died suddenly. Ten isolates were obtained from the liver, lungs, heart, and small and large intestine of the animals and were examined by multiplex polymerase chain reaction for the genes encoding the 4 lethal toxins (alpha, beta, epsilon, and iota) for classification into toxin types as well as for the genes encoding enterotoxin and the novel beta2-toxin for subclassification. In addition, the cpb2 sequence of the 10 isolates was different from the published sequence of cpb2 of pig type C isolate CWC245, whereas it was highly similar to the cpb2 sequence of the C. perfringens type A strain 13. This finding suggests the existence of 2 cpb2 subtypes. This is the first report of enterotoxemia associated with the presence of C. perfringens producing beta2-toxin in the tissues and intestinal content of Asiatic black bears.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Health and Wellbeing, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari, 70010 Valenzano, Italy.
authors.forename: Grazia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Greco
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Madio
authors.forename: Vito
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Martella
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Campolo
authors.forename: Marialaura
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Corrente
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Buonavoglia
authors.forename: Canio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Buonavoglia
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000836:Animals, Zoo; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D003016:Clostridium perfringens / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D004767:Enterotoxemia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D001503:Ursidae
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins; C109896:cpb2 protein, Clostridium perfringens