Faecal microbiota characterisation of horses using 16 rdna barcoded pyrosequencing, and carriage rate of clostridium difficile at hospital admission.

Background The equine faecal microbiota is very complex and remains largely unknown, while interspecies interactions have an important contribution to animal health. Clostridium difficile has been identified as an important cause of diarrhoea in horses. This study provides further information on the nature of the bacterial communities present in horses developing an episode of diarrhoea. The prevalence of C. difficile in hospitalised horses at the time of admission is also reported.