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Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences

DOI

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Abstract

This study was designed to determine the types of Clostridium perfringens and their toxins in diarrhoeic calves in Kars. For this purpose, 150 calves with diarrhoea, 13 dead calves, and 25 healthy calves of less than 1-month old were used. Faecal samples from the diarrhoeic and control calves and intestinal contents from the dead calves were collected and used to determine alpha, beta, and epsilon toxins produced by C. perfringens types using a commercially available ELISA test kit. A total of 122 (81.33%) faecal samples collected from the diarrhoeic calves were found to be positive for C. perfringens toxins. According to the toxins produced by C. perfringens, 61 (40.66%), 19 (12.66%), 28 (18.66%), and 14 (9.33%) toxin-positive samples were identified as types A, B, C, and D, respectively. Furthermore, 4 (30.76%) and 9 (69.23%) intestinal samples collected from the dead calves were also positive for C. perfringens types B and C, respectively. All the faecal samples collected from healthy calves were negative for the C. perfringens toxins tested. It is recommended that an appropriate vaccination schedule against C. perfringens should be applied to pregnant cattle and new-born calves in Kars. This vaccine should provide an adequate protective immunity against C. perfringens types A, B, and C.

Keywords

Calves, Clostridium perfringens, alpha toxin, beta toxin, epsilon toxin, diarrhoea, enterotoxaemia, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)

First Page

207

Last Page

211

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