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Published on: December 10, 2016
Clostridioides difficile in Australian dairy farms
Su-Chen Lim1, Jessica Chisholm2, Deirdre A Collins1
1School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, WA, Australia; School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, WA, Australia.
Objectives:
This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and diversity of C. difficile in Australian dairy farms.
Methods:
A total of 320 samples, including faeces, rectal swabs, effluent, soil and water, were collected from seven dairy farms across two Australian states.
Results:
C. difficile was present in all seven farms (100 %) and 44.4 % of the samples tested, with the highest prevalence found in soil (94.3 %), effluent (73.7 %) and faeces (60.4 %). Forty-four distinct ribotypes were identified among 174 isolates, of which 17 have been found previously in humans. C. difficile ribotype (RT) 127 (A + B + CDT+) was the predominant strain, comprising 42.5 % of isolates. The findings also indicated that the environment of Australian dairy farms is persistently contaminated with C. difficile, especially RT 127 and may represent a potential source for zoonotic transmission.
Conclusions:
C. difficile may be widespread in Australian dairy farms, with notably high prevalence in both animals and environmental samples.
