الفهرس 
Bacteriological and molecular studies on Clostridium difficile in small ruminants and poultry under desert conditions
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Abstract
Clostridium difficile is a leading cause of hospital-acquired diarrhea among humans. Meanwhile, it recently has a growing attention in the veterinary medicine. The present study investigates the performance of three different laboratory techniques for diagnosis of C. difficile infection in animals and poultry as well as the burden of C. difficile among diarrheic sheep and goats in rural settings. Accordingly, 90 fecal samples of animal origin (sheep, goats) and poultry were examined by conventional culture technique followed by PCR, GDH-ELISA and direct PCR for the detection of C. difficile from feces. The results revealed that direct PCR showed the highest detection rate (45.6%), followed by conventional culture technique with molecular confirmation (16.7%), while the lowest detection rate was obtained by GDH-ELISA (8.9%). Despite the high detection rate of direct PCR technique, three false negative results were recorded (positive by conventional culture technique followed by PCR). On the other hand, fecal samples from 60 diarrheic animals reared in rural settings (36 sheep and 24 goats) were pre-enriched in brain heart infusion broth and cultured on selective C. difficile agar medium. C. difficile isolates were identified using conventional, serological and molecular techniques. Moreover, the obtained isolates were examined for the occurrence of genes encoding toxin A and toxin B. The overall prevalence of C. difficile among the examined animals was 20% (12/60). However, only three ones (3/12) possessed toxigenic genes; tcdA in 2 isolates and tcdB in one isolate. The phylogenetic analysis of the obtained tcdA gene sequence from sheep showed high genetic relatedness to those of beef, pig and humans. In conclusion, direct PCR technique yielded a high detection rate for detection of C. difficile in animal fecal samples, whereas C. difficile may be a potential cause of diarrhea among sheep and goats in rural settings with public health implications