Isolation and genotyping of Clostridium perfringens and Clostridium difficile in Capuchin Monkeys (Sapajus spp.)

The importance of Clostridium perfringens and C. difficile for most wild animal species remains unclear. This study aimed to isolate and genotype C. perfringens and C. difficile in stool samples from free-living and captive capuchin monkeys (Sapajus flavius and Sapajus libidinosus) in Brazil. Ten free-living S. flavius and 14 captive S. libidinosus were sampled for this study. To isolate C. difficile, stool samples were inoculated on plates containing cycloserine-cefoxitin fructose agar supplemented with horse blood and sodium taurocholate. Two different protocols for C. perfringens isolation were tested: direct plating onto selective agar and enrichment in brain heart infusion (BHI) broth followed by plating onto selective agar. C. difficile was not detected in the present study. The results were identical for both protocols tested for isolation of C. perfringens. Four samples (16.7%) were positive for C. perfringens type A, including one sample from a free-living animal (4.2%) and three from captive animals (12.5%), meaning there was no significant difference between these two groups. C. perfringens isolates were negative for all additional virulence factors evaluated, including enterotoxin encoding-gene (cpe) and beta-2 encoding-gene (cpb2). These results suggested that C. perfringens type A is found in the microbiota of capuchin monkeys, although it is less frequent than previously reported in domestic animals.