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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, April 2001, p. 1577-1579, Vol. 39, No. 4
CSIRO Health Sciences and Nutrition, Adelaide
BC, South Australia 5000, Australia,1 and
Tufts University College of Veterinary Medicine, North Grafton,
Massachusetts 015362
Received 29 June 2000/Returned for modification 16 October
2000/Accepted 15 November 2000
Bilophila wadsworthia is a common inhabitant of the
human colon and has been associated with appendicitis and other local sites of inflammation in humans. Challenge-exposure or prevalence studies in laboratory and other animals have not been reported. B. wadsworthia is closely related phylogenetically to
Desulfovibrio sp. and Lawsonia intracellularis,
which are considered colon pathogens. We developed a PCR specific for
B. wadsworthia DNA. Samples of bacterial DNA extracted from
the feces of pigs on six farms in Australia and four farms in Venezuela
were examined. Specific DNA of B. wadsworthia was detected
in the feces of 58 of 161 Australian and 2 of 45 Venezuelan pigs,
results comprising 100% of the neonatal pigs, 15% of the weaned
grower pigs, and 27% of the adult sows tested. Single-stranded
conformational polymorphism analysis of PCR product DNA derived from
pigs or from known human strains showed an identical pattern.
Histologic examination of the intestines of weaned B. wadsworthia-positive pigs found no or minor specific lesions in
the small and large intestines, respectively. B. wadsworthia is apparently a common infection in neonatal pigs,
but its prevalence decreases after weaning. The possible role of
B. wadsworthia as an infection in animals and in human
colons requires further study.
0095-1137/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JCM.39.4.1577-1579.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Colonic Infection by Bilophila
wadsworthia in Pigs
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: CSIRO Health
Sciences and Nutrition, P.O. Box 10041, Adelaide BC, South Australia
5000, Australia. Phone: 618-83038949. Fax: 618-83038899. E-mail:
sandi.mcorist{at}hsn.csiro.au.
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