Australian Pig Veterinarians Virtual Conference 2021

Clostridium is a broad genus of bacteria found in most environments globally. It includes human and animal pathogens that produce toxins that cause severe, and often fatal, diseases, with high economic burdens to both clinical and agricultural sectors. Diseases include enterotoxemia, necrotic enteritis, pseudomembranous colitis, and antibiotic-induced diarrhoea. Clostridia cannot be eradicated from the environment because they form spores, and transmission can occur from animals to humans, supporting a ‘One Health’ link between these pathogens. The toxins produced by clostridia define the disease capacity of the infecting strain, thus, immunisation with toxoid or bacterin-toxoid vaccines can be protective. However, toxins are highly variable between strains, making vaccination ineffective. This talk will describe how clostridial toxin and infection studies are performed at Monash University, and how they assist in developing new strategies to tackle these ever-changing pathogens.