Abstract

The study was designed to determine the types of Clostridium perfringens and their toxins in sheep with suspected enterotoxemia in Hama province, Syria. For this purpose, 89 bacterial isolates were isolated from 132 samples collected from dead and some slaughtered sheep with suspected enterotoxemia and diagnosed with classical diagnostic tests and by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique to determine the types and toxins of C. perfringens. These isolates appeared as G+ bulged rods with curved ends and were as positive to lecithinase, gelatin hydrolysis and sugar fermented, as where negative to catalase, oxidase, and indole. Based on the ELISA results all isolates were C. perfringens types A 84 isolate (94.38 %), D 3 (3.37 %), and C 2(2.25 %). Clostridium perfringens type A was the dominant type in cases of enterotoxemia in sheep in Hama province detected by ELISA test. The enterotoxaemia causes considerable economic loss to the sheep industry particularly in Hama province and generally in Syria. Therefore, it is recommended that a proper vaccination schedule against enterotoxemia should be implemented for sheep flocks in Hama province. These vaccines should provide adequate protective immunity against all C. perfringens types specially types A and D.