Isolation of Clostridium difficile and molecular detection of binary and A/B toxins in faeces of dogs

The aim of this study was to isolate Clostridium difficile from dogs' faeces, and to study the frequency of its virulence genes. A total of 151 samples of dogs' faeces were collected. The isolation of C. difficile was performed by using the bacterial culture methods followed by DNA extraction using boiling method. Multiplex PCR method was performed for identification of tcdA, tcdB, cdtA and cdtB genes and single method was carried out for detection of tcdC. Twelve samples (7.9%) were positive in bacteriological assay and based on molecular assay, 66.7% of the isolates (8 of 12 C. difficile isolated) had shown tcdA⁺, tcdB⁺ profile. This is the first investigation on molecular assay of C. difficile in Iran's dog population.