The present study was conducted to isolate the causal agent of necrotic enteritis (NE) from broiler chickens. A total of 50 jejunal samples from necropsied broiler chickens were collected for isolation of Clostridium perfringens, the causal agent of NE. The novel method for isolation of Clostridium perfringens was stab culture in association with pouring of olive oil on the surface of the stab ...

Fumonisins (FBs) are mycotoxins produced by Fusarium fungi. This study aimed to investigate the effect of these feed contaminants on the intestinal morphology and microbiota composition, and to evaluate whether FBs predispose broilers to necrotic enteritis. One-day-old broiler chicks were divided into a group fed a control diet, and a group fed a FBs contaminated diet (18.6 mg FB1+FB2/kg feed)....

The Clostridium perfringens necrotic enteritis toxin B, NetB, was recently proposed as a new key virulence factor for the development of necrotic enteritis (NE) in broilers. The aim of the present study was to investigate the presence of the netB gene and the in vitro production of the NetB toxin in a well characterized collection of 48 C. perfringens Type A isolates, obtained from Danish broil...

Clostridium perfringens-induced necrotic enteritis is generally controlled by antibiotics. However, because of increasing antibiotic resistance, other antibacterial agents are required, preferably ones that do not affect the beneficial intestinal microbiota of the host. This study evaluated the in vitro selective growth-inhibitory effect of 8-hydroxyquinoline (8HQ) on C. perfringens vs. bifidob...

Necrotic enteritis caused by Clostridium perfringens leads to serious economical losses to the poultry industry. There is a growing need to find effective, nontoxic, antibiotic alternatives to prevent and cure the disease. In our study, the efficacy of protected sodium butyrate at 1.5 g/kg (BP70), a Bacillus amyloliquefaciens spore suspension with 10(9) cfu/g (BAL; Ecobiol), a protected blend o...

The objectives of this study were to isolate beneficial strains of microorganisms from the gastrointestinal tracts of healthy chickens and to screen them against Clostridium perfringens, a causative agent of necrotic enteritis in poultry. One of the bacteria isolated, a strain of Bacillus subtilis, was found to possess an anticlostridial factor that could inhibit the C. perfringens ATCC 13124 u...

Our laboratory is evaluating the efficacy of direct-fed microbials (DFM) and phytogenic products to control Clostridium perfringens, a gram-positive organism associated with decreased performance and morbidity and mortality associated with necrotic enteritis, as well as some recent human food safety issues. Three experiments were conducted to evaluate a DFM (PoultryStar) and a phytogenic produc...

Strains of Clostridium perfringens are a frequent cause of food-borne disease and gas gangrene and are also associated with necrotic enteritis in chickens. To detect and quantify the levels of C. perfringens in the chicken gastrointestinal tract, a quantitative real-time PCR assay utilizing a fluorogenic, hydrolysis-type probe was developed and utilized to assay material retrieved from the broi...

The use of antibiotic feed additives in broiler chickens results in a high prevalence of resistance among their enteric bacteria, with a consequent emergence of antibiotic resistance in zoonotic enteropathogens. Despite growing concerns about the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains, which show varying prevalences in different geographic regions, little work has been done to investigate th...