title: Toxin production by and adhesive properties of Clostridium difficile isolated from humans and horses with antibiotic-associated diarrhea.
abstract: Clostridium difficile is a common nosocomial pathogen in humans and animals that causes diarrhea and colitis following antibiotic therapy. Isolates of C. difficile obtained from faecal material from 20 human patients and 6 equine subjects with antibiotic-associated diarrhea were investigated regarding production of toxins A and B, their capacity to adhere to the human intestinal Caco-2 cell line and equine intestinal cells, and for the presence of fimbriae. The results showed that most (17/20) of the human clinical isolates produced both toxins A and B. One of the human isolates proved toxin A-negative/toxin B-positive. All (6/6) horse isolates were positive for both toxins A and B. Both the human and horse isolates possessed the capacity to adhere, to varying degree, to human and equine intestinal cells. It appeared that human isolates produced greater amounts of toxin B, and that there was a host-species dependency on ability to attach to intestinal epithelial cells. No fimbriae were found in any of the investigated isolates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, SLU, Box 7036, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Sawsan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Taha
authors.forename: Orjan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rivera Jonsson
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Heimer
authors.forename: Karel
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Krovacek
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001422:Bacterial Adhesion; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000378:metabolism*; D018938:Caco-2 Cells; D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D003015:Clostridium Infections / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D004761:Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000378:metabolism; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D010861:Fimbriae, Bacterial / Q000378:metabolism; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D006736:Horses; D006801:Humans; D007422:Intestines / Q000166:cytology
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins; C488583:Clostridium difficile lethal toxin B; D004768:Enterotoxins; C041348:tcdA protein, Clostridium difficile