Experimental reproduction of neonatal diarrhea in young gnotobiotic hares simultaneously associated with Clostridium difficile and other Clostridium strains

Abstract

C. difficile, C. perfringens and C. tertium are very often present simultaneously in the feces of conventional diarrheic young hares, whereas these 3 bacterial species are rarely encountered and never present simultaneously in the feces of healthy young hares. When a strain of each of the 3 bacterial species was monoassociated with axenic young hares, the appearance of pathological disorders was only observed in animals monoassociated with C. difficile, when the number of C. difficile exceeded 108 per g of fresh feces. When a strain of C. perfringens or a strain of C. tertium, or both, was associated with C. difficile, diarrhea and death occurred more rapidly than in hares monoassociated with C. difficile. C. difficile and C. perfringens became established more rapidly when disassociated than when monoassociated with axenic hares. The association of C. perfringens and C. tertium with axenic hares did not bring about any pathological disorders. C. difficile is the causal agent of neonatal diarrhea in conventional and gnotobiotic young hares and other strains of Clostridium enhance its pathogenic effect. C. difficile alone or associated with C. perfringens or C. tertium does not play any pathogenic role in young rats, mice, or rabbits.