Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 29, 2026

Enrichment and Detection of Clostridium perfringens Toxinotypes in Retail Food Samples
Published on: October 18, 2019
Toxin types of Clostridium perfringens isolated from free-ranging, semi-domesticated reindeer in Norway
A Aschfalk1, P Valentin-Weigand, W Müller
1Department of Arctic Veterinary Medicine, The Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Tromsø.
Abstract:
Samples of faeces were taken from 166 healthy domesticated reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) from three flocks in different reindeer husbandry districts in northern Norway and examined bacteriologically for the presence of Clostridium perfringens. The organism was isolated from 98 (59 per cent) of the reindeer. The isolates were classified into C perfringens toxin types by PCR analysis specific for the genes encoding the four major toxins (alpha, beta, epsilon and tau) and were subclassified by the detection of the genes encoding C perfringens beta2-toxin and enterotoxin. All the isolates belonged to C perfringens toxin type A. In addition, 15 of the 98 isolates were PCR-positive for the beta2-toxin gene, and two of the isolates had the the gene encoding for enterotoxin.
Related Concept Videos
Botulism
Bacterial Toxins
Diphtheria
Reservoir of Infection
Bacterial Gastroenteritis
Bacterial Phylum Spirochaetes

