title: Prevalence of Clostridium difficile in horses.
abstract: Fecal samples were collected to establish the apparent prevalence of Clostridium difficile shedding in Standardbred and Thoroughbred racehorses housed at 4 racetracks and 2 breeding facilities, and in horses admitted to a referral large animal clinic. Forty-one (7.59%) of 540 racetrack horses, seven (5.83%) of 120 breeding farm horses, and four (4.88%) out of 82 horses admitted to the referral clinic were culture-positive for C. difficile. An overall fecal culture prevalence of 7.01% for C. difficile was identified in 742 fecal samples. PCR-ribotyping and toxin gene identification was performed and seventeen 17 PCR-ribotypes were identified among the 52 C. difficile isolates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Studies, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada. cemedinat@unal.edu.co
authors.forename: Carlos E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Medina-Torres
authors.forename: J Scott
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Weese
authors.forename: Henry R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Staempfli
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D057138:Bacterial Shedding; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics; D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004761:Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D006736:Horses / Q000382:microbiology*; D008297:Male; D009864:Ontario / Q000453:epidemiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D015995:Prevalence; D021521:Ribotyping / Q000662:veterinary
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins