Isolation of Clostridium difficile from various colonies of laboratory mice

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Animal Health
• Infectious Diseases

Background:

• Clostridium difficile is an opportunistic pathogen.
• Conventional mouse colonies often harbor C. difficile.
• Specified-pathogen-free (SPF) colonies are crucial for controlled research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the prevalence of Clostridium difficile in different mouse colonies.
• To evaluate the effect of ampicillin on C. difficile isolation.

Main Methods:

• Isolation of C. difficile from fecal samples of 565 mice across 15 colonies (9 conventional, 6 SPF).
• Comparison of isolation rates between conventional and SPF mice.
• Administration of intraperitoneal ampicillin to a subset of mice to assess its impact on isolation.

Main Results:

• Clostridium difficile was successfully isolated from all conventional mouse colonies.
• No C. difficile was isolated from any of the specified-pathogen-free mouse colonies.
• Ampicillin treatment increased the isolation rate of C. difficile from 19.4% in untreated mice to 63.6% in treated mice.

Conclusions:

• Conventional mouse colonies serve as reservoirs for Clostridium difficile.
• SPF mouse colonies are reliably free of C. difficile.
• Antibiotic administration, specifically ampicillin, can enhance the detection of C. difficile in mice, aiding in diagnostic and research efforts.