Low Prevalence of Clostridium difficile in Slaughter Pigs in Korea

Clostridium difficile is an important cause of enteric disease in humans and animals. The prevalence of C. difficile infection is increasing, and the bacterium is frequently found in meat products, suggesting the possibility of animal-to-human transmission. Therefore, food animals must be assessed for their role as reservoirs of C. difficile. In this study, C. difficile was isolated from 2 (0.3%) of 659 slaughtered pigs in Korea. Both isolates were characterized as ribotype 078 and were multidrug resistant. The low occurrence suggests only a limited risk of C. difficile transmission from porcine food products; however, C. difficile ribotype 078 is an important pathogen in both pigs and humans, and further studies are necessary to investigate the occurrence of C. difficile in retail meats and other food animals.