The aim of the current study was to investigate the prevalence of Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) recovered from animal faeces, as well as to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility of such isolates. A total of 14 (14/100; 14%) C. perfringens isolates were isolated from the 100 analysed samples (twelve recovered from faecal samples collected from pigs and two from veal calves' faecal samples). The preponderant genotype was type A, with all isolates being cpa-positive. The most potent antimicrobial agents against C. perfringens proved to be vancomycin, rifampicin and lincomycin. A strong resistance to tetracycline (71.4%), penicillin (64.2%), erythromycin (42.8%) and enrofloxacin (35.7%) was also observed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first analysis regarding the prevalence, characterization and antimicrobial susceptibility of C. perfringens in food-producing animals in Romania, adding further evidence for the probable role of animals as a source of resistant C. perfringens strains.
Keywords: Clostridium perfringens; antimicrobial resistance; food-producing animals; gastroenteritis; prevalence; toxins.