title: How do swine practitioners and veterinary pathologists arrive at a diagnosis of Clostridium perfringens type A enteritis in neonatal piglets?
abstract: A questionnaire was administered to 22 veterinary practitioners and 17 veterinary pathologists to investigate the methods used for diagnosis of Clostridium perfringens type A enteritis in neonatal pigs. Practitioners generally diagnosed C. perfringens type A associated enteritis by age of onset of diarrhea (between 1 to 7 days of age). Most practitioners (95%) were moderately to very confident in their diagnosis. Pathologists generally diagnosed C. perfringens type A associated enteritis by combinations of isolation of the organism, genotyping or detecting the toxins of the organism, and ruling out other pathogens through histopathology. Almost half (41%) of the pathologists were not confident of their diagnosis. This study reports that the current diagnostic method for C. perfringens type A enteritis is not specific, and although many pathologists expressed reservations about making a diagnosis of C. perfringens type A enteritis, most practitioners were confident in their diagnosis, even though reported clinical signs of clostridial diarrhea are similar to those of a number of other enteric diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Population Medicine (Chan, Farzan, Friendship) and Department of Pathobiology (Prescott), University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1.
authors.forename: Gloria
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Abdolvahab
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Farzan
authors.forename: John F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Prescott
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Friendship
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D003015:Clostridium Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000662:veterinary*; D003016:Clostridium perfringens / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003625:Data Collection; D004751:Enteritis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D010341:Pathology, Veterinary / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013552:Swine; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D018634:Veterinarians