Antimicrobial Profile of Clostridium Perfringens Isolates from Dairy Products

The aim of the present study was to observe the antimicrobial profile of isolates of Cl. perfringens from pasteurized milk and milk products (icecream and shrikhand) against 16 antibiotics. Antimicrobial profile revealed that few drugs like amikacin, piperacillin, cefuroxime, ceftazidime, cephoxitin, ceftriaxone, chloramphenicol were showing higher sensitivity. Antibiotics like erythromycin and gentamicin were displaying intermediate sensitivity. Drugs like tetracycline, ampicillin, penicillin, co-trimoxazole and cloaxacillin showed higher resistance. While, lincomycin was observed to be almost resistance to Cl. perfringens isolates. Keword: Clostridium, Characterization, Dairy product Cl. perfringens is a gram positive, sporogenic, encapsulated anaerobic bacteria. The organism is regarded as one of the most widespread and pathogenic bacteria in clostridial family (Songer, 1996). It is ubiquitous in nature and commonly found in the environment and in the gastrointestinal tract of a variety of mammals and birds. It is also recognized as an important pathogen in domestic animals, wildlife and humans. Cl. perfringens can cause gas gangrene and food poisoning in humans; necrotic enteritis in poultry; enterotoxemia in lambs and calves; and enteritis in pigs, cattle, dogs, and horses (Radostits et al., 2003, Gurmu et al., 2013).Cl. perfringens isolates can be grouped into 5 types (A to E) based on the presence of 4 major toxinsalpha, beta, epsilon and iota (Topley and Wilson, 1998). It also produces enterotoxin, which has been associated with diarrheal disease in some animal species and with food poisoning in humans. The ubiquitous nature of Cl. perfringens is responsible for contamination of wide variety of foods like meat, Journal of Animal Research: v.3 n.2 p.147-151. December, 2013