A study conducted on broilers from India confirmed that Clostridium perfringens type A was the cause of necrotic enteritis (NE) and that alpha-toxin may play a significant role in development of the disease, say Arunava Das of the Bannari Amman Institute of Technology, and associates.

After six broilers died at 2 to 3 weeks of age on a poultry farm in Meghalaya, India, investigators performed scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and evaluated intestinal contents and liver samples.

SEM revealed massive necrosis and complete destruction of the intestinal villi within the intestinal mucosa. Bacterial isolation confirmed that C. perfringens was the cause. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing of 10 clinical isolates showed they all harbored the alpha-toxin gene of C. perfringens; four were positive for the beta2 toxin gene; and none were positive for the beta, epsilon, iota or enterotoxin genes.

All isolates derived from NE belonged to C. perfringens type A and there was 97.6% to 100% homology among the C. perfringens isolates, they write in a recent issue of the International Journal of Poultry Science (7 (6): 601-609, 2008).

The study confirms that C. perfringens type A is the most predominant one associated with necrotic enteritis in broiler chickens in this region of India and that the alpha-toxin gene might play a significant role in the pathogenesis of the disease in broiler chickens, the investigators conclude.

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