Identification of risk factors influencing Clostridium difficile prevalence in middle-size dairy farms

Farm animals have been suggested to play an important role in the epidemiology of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in the community. The purpose of this study was to evaluate risk factors associated with C. difficile dissemination in family dairy farms, which are the most common farming model in the European Union. Environmental samples and fecal samples from cows and calves were collected repeatedly over a 1 year period on 20 mid-size family dairy farms. Clostridium difficile was detected in cattle feces on all farms using qPCR. The average prevalence between farms was 10% (0-44.4%) and 35.7% (3.7-66.7%) in cows and calves, respectively. Bacterial culture yielded 103 C. difficile isolates from cattle and 61 from the environment. Most C. difficile isolates were PCR-ribotype 033. A univariate mixed effect model analysis of risk factors associated dietary changes with increasing C. difficile prevalence in cows (P = 0.0004); and dietary changes (P = 0.004), breeding Simmental cattle (P = 0.001), mastitis (P = 0.003) and antibiotic treatment (P = 0.003) in calves. Multivariate analysis of risk factors found that dietary changes in cows (P = 0.0001) and calves (P = 0.002) increase C. difficile prevalence; mastitis was identified as a risk factor in calves (P = 0.001). This study shows that C. difficile is common on dairy farms and that shedding is more influenced by farm management than environmental factors. Based on molecular typing of C. difficile isolates, it could also be concluded that family dairy farms are currently not contributing to increased CDI incidence.