2017 Volume 70 Issue 8 Pages 516-521
Neonatal piglets less than one week old had watery yellowish feces on a swine farm in Mie Prefecture, Japan in August 2014. Although the diarrhea ended in the farrowing house after eight days, fifteen piglets died in the meantime. At the necropsy, common gross lesions included mesocolonic edema. The colonic contents were assayed with a commercially available enzyme immunoassay that detects Clostridium difficile (CD) or its toxin, and CD was detected in piglets that had fibrinous colitis. CD was isolated from the colonic and/or rectum contents of the piglets. Histopathologically, segmental erosions were observed in the colonic mucosa, producing volcano lesions (exudation of neutrophils and fibrin into the lumen). Gram-positive bacteria and Clostridium antigens were detected around segmental erosion by Gram staining and immunohistochemical staining using anti-Clostridium. The present case was suspected to be Clostridium difficile infection.
