Abstract

Clostridium difficile is one of the most important pathogens causing diarrhea and enteritis in rabbits as it causes pseudomembranous colitis that leads to intestinal damage and deaths. In this study, screening of rabbit farms from different localities in Egypt had shown rabbits suffered from diarrhea and enteritis to detect Clostridium difficile by ELISA, it revealed that five out of 50 samples (10%) were positive for it. These samples were further identification by cultivation and culture characters, microscopical examination, agglutination test, pathogenicity test and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) by using specific primers for toxins genes (tcdA and tcdB). The results showing that three out of five isolates were confirmed as Clostridium difficile and concluded that these isolates causing pseudomembranous enterocolitis in rabbits and this disease unable to be treated by antibiotics, so it used for preparation of vaccine against the disease in rabbits.