Detection of Clostridium perfringens and its toxinotypes by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay from enterotoxaemic goats in Bangladesh

An enzyme-linked immnnosorbent assay (ELISA) has been performed for the detection of the prevailing toxinotypes of Clostridium perfringens obtained from conventional culturing of intestinal contents of goats which have died of suspected enterotoxaemia. The test was found effective to detect the toxins as well as types of the organism with less time and labor. The most prevailing type of C. perfringens causing enterotoxaemia in goat was C. perfringens type D (68.75%) and followed by C. perfringens type B (25%) and C (6.25%). No C. perfringens type A was detected. This study showed an intelligible picture of prevailing toxinotypes of C. perfringens in goats in Bangladesh. The use of the ELISA for the detection of clostridial types and toxins allows the differential diagnosis of C. perfringens types A, B, C and D enterotoxaemias from samples of intestinal contents and the typing of cultures of C. perfringens.