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E-Book 2nd Congress

  • Isolation of Clostridium perfringens toxinotype G from antibiotic-associated diarrhoeal (AAD) patients
  • Mojtaba Alimolaei,1,*
    1. Research and Development Department, Kerman branch, Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Kerman, Iran


  • Introduction: Different Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) toxinotypes can be caused gas gangrene, antibiotic-associated diarrhoea (AAD), food-borne disease and etc. in humans. Toxinotype F reported as the cause of 15% of AAD or sporadic diarrhoea (SD) cases, while the association of toxinotype G with this disease was not reported. Here, the isolation of C. perfringens toxinotype G from AAD patients was reported for the first time in the hospitalized patients in Kerman province of Iran.
  • Methods: A total of 151 stool specimens from AAD patients were investigated for C. perfringens and the suspected isolates were analyzed for the cpa, cpb, etx, iap, cpe, and netb toxin genes by the multiplex and simplex PCRs and toxinotyped by the existence of each gene.
  • Results: C. perfringens isolation ratio was 28.5% (43/151) and this ratio for toxinotype G was 1.3% (2/151). The cpa genes was detected in all C. perfringens isolates (n=116). The netB gene was detected in two isolates (1.7%), thus they belonged to toxinotype G. These were isolated from two female hospitalized patients (9 and 39 years old) with AAD in infectious pediatrics and infectious wards. They had a history of long-term use of cephalosporin and metronidazole antibiotics. The older patient had AAD signs included fever, abdominal pain, intestinal cramps, nausea, vomiting, colitis, and diarrhoea, whereas the younger patient showed only diarrhoea.
  • Conclusion: Necrotic enteritis B-like toxin (NetB) is a recently discovered toxin that is produced by C. perfringens toxinotype G strains. Toxinotype G is associated with avian necrotic enteritis and it is not known as a diarrhoeal agent in humans, routinely. Remarkably, the isolation of C. perfringens type G in this study suggesting the importance of this type in C. perfringens-associated AAD or SD cases, for the first time.
  • Keywords: Isolation, Clostridium perfringens; Toxinotype G; Antibiotic-associated diarrhoea (AAD); Sporadic di