Virulence of new variant strains of Clostridium difficile producing only toxin A or binary toxin in the hamster model

Pathogenesis of Clostridium difficile has been linked to production of toxins, including the large toxins A and B as well as the binary toxin CDT. Until recently, toxin A was only found in combination in clinical strains with the toxin B, unlike toxin B or CDT, which were found alone in toxigenic variants. New toxigenic variants of C. difficile detected in our laboratory from patients with diarrhoea or severe colitis, including a variant producing only toxin A, were tested for virulence in the hamster model, which displays the clinical features of C. difficile disease. Hamsters infected with a strain producing only toxin B induced similar clinical signs, time to death from infection and histologic damage compared to the hypervirulent strain 027. No mortality or clinical signs of infection but caecal histologic damage was found with the variant producing only toxin A. The C. difficile variant strain producing only CDT was able to kill one hamster out of seven; nevertheless, the surviving animals had few alteration of the caecum.