Isolation, prevalence and molecular toxinotyping of Clostridium perfringens from healthy and diseased sheep of Kashmir, India

In the present study, prevalence of Clostridium perfringens in the healthy and diseased sheep of Kashmir valley was investigated along with the detection of the various toxinotypes present. A total of One hundred (100) faecal samples of ovine population comprising of those taken from healthy flock (50) and from diarrheic cases (50) of the organized and unorganized sectors of Kashmir valley were collected for screening of Clostridium perfringens. On complete isolation and identification, a total of 61 samples were found to be positive for the presence of C. perfringens with a prevalence of 42% and 80% from healthy and diarrheic cases respectively. Molecular typing of the isolates by multiplex PCR employing cpa, cpb, etx, and iap genes revealed 37(60.65%) isolates were Type A, 2 (3.27%) were Type B, 1(1.63%) Type C, and 21(34.42%) were Type D respectively, while no isolate of C. perfringens Type E was recovered from any of the samples collected.