Clostridium perfringens type A related enteritis: A case report in dogs

On June 2010, inTehran province 7 out of 82 dogs in a kennel, showed clinical signs of enteritis which resulted in death (n=5). Clinical findings were diarrhea, dysentery, fever, depression, neural sings and sudden death. Necropsy findings revealed hemorrhagic enteritis, catarrhal gasteritis, multifocal necrosis up to 0.5cm in diameter in cerebral cortex with hyperemia and hemorrhage. Necropsy was done on 4 cases and intestinal contentes were cultured to characterize Clostridium perfringens type using PCR. Rapid test antibody for parvovirus and distemper virus showed that 2 out of 4 puppies were positive against distemper virus. According to nonsup- purative encephalitis, gliosis, intranuclear inclusion bodies in astrocytes, packed cell volume, interstitial pneumonia and positive reaction to distemper virus it can be concluded that primary distemper disease has been followed by, hemorrhagic enteritis and diarrhea as a secondary infection to Clostridium perfringens type A.