The duration of antibiotic treatment is associated with carriage of toxigenic and non-toxigenic strains of Clostridioides difficile in dogs

Albuquerque, C., Pagnossin, D., Landsgaard, K., Simpson, J., Brown, D., Irvine, J., Candlish, D., Ridyard, A. E. , Douce, G. and Millins, C. (2021) The duration of antibiotic treatment is associated with carriage of toxigenic and non-toxigenic strains of Clostridioides difficile in dogs. PLoS ONE, 16(5), e0245949. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245949) (PMID:33979349) (PMCID:PMC8115768)

Abstract

Clostridioides difficile is a leading cause of human antibiotic-associated diarrhoeal disease globally. Zoonotic reservoirs of infection are increasingly suspected to play a role in the emergence of this disease in the community and dogs are considered as one potential source. Here we use a canine case-control study at a referral veterinary hospital in Scotland to assess: i) the risk factors associated with carriage of C. difficile by dogs, ii) whether carriage of C. difficile is associated with clinical disease in dogs and iii) the similarity of strains isolated from dogs with local human clinical surveillance. The overall prevalence of C. difficile carriage in dogs was 18.7% (95% CI 14.8–23.2%, n = 61/327) of which 34% (n = 21/61) were toxigenic strains. We found risk factors related to prior antibiotic treatment were significantly associated with C. difficile carriage by dogs. However, the presence of toxigenic strains of C. difficile in a canine faecal sample was not associated with diarrhoeal disease in dogs. Active toxin was infrequently detected in canine faecal samples carrying toxigenic strains (2/11 samples). Both dogs in which active toxin was detected had no clinical evidence of gastrointestinal disease. Among the ten toxigenic ribotypes of C. difficile detected in dogs in this study, six of these (012, 014, 020, 026, 078, 106) were ribotypes commonly associated with human clinical disease in Scotland, while nontoxigenic isolates largely belonged to 010 and 039 ribotypes. Whilst C. difficile does not appear commonly associated with diarrhoeal disease in dogs, antibiotic treatment increases carriage of this bacteria including toxigenic strains commonly found in human clinical disease.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Brown, Mr Derek and Ridyard, Ms Alison and Millins, Dr Caroline and Pagnossin, Mr Davide and Albuquerque, Carolina and Douce, Dr Gillian and Irvine, Ms June and Candlish, Mrs Denise

Creator Roles

Albuquerque, C.: Investigation, Writing – review and editing
Pagnossin, D.: Investigation, Writing – review and editing
Brown, D.: Investigation, Writing – review and editing
Irvine, J.: Investigation
Candlish, D.: Investigation
Ridyard, A. E.: Funding acquisition, Investigation, Supervision, Writing – review and editing
Douce, G.: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing
Millins, C.: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing

• Authors: Albuquerque, C., Pagnossin, D., Landsgaard, K., Simpson, J., Brown, D., Irvine, J., Candlish, D., Ridyard, A. E., Douce, G., and Millins, C.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity; College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
• Journal Name: PLoS ONE
• Publisher: Public Library of Science
• ISSN: 1932-6203
• ISSN (Online): 1932-6203
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 Albuquerque et al.
• First Published: First published in PLoS ONE 16(5): e0245949
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License