Neonatal Piglets Are Protected from Clostridioides difficile Infection by Age-Dependent Increase in Intestinal Microbial Diversity
Alexandra Proctor, Nancy A. Cornick, Chong Wang, Shankumar Mooyottu, Paulo A. Arruda, Kayce Kobs, Gregory J. Phillips
Abstract
C. difficile is an important bacterial pathogen that is the most common cause of infections associated with health care in the United States. It also causes significant morbidity and mortality in neonatal pigs, and currently there are no preventative treatments available to livestock producers. This study determined the age-related susceptibility of piglets to C. difficile over the first 2 weeks of life, along with documenting the natural age-related changes that occurred in the intestinal microbiota over the same time period in a controlled environment. We observed that the populations of intestinal bacteria within individual animals of the same age, regardless of litter, showed the highest degree of similarity. Identifying bacterial species associated with the acquisition of natural resistance observed in older pigs could lead to the development of new strategies to prevent and or treat disease caused by C. difficile infection.