Project start: Significance of Clostridium botulinum in chronic disease
For quite some time, there has been controversial discussion in Germany on the cause of a gradual health deterioration observed in cattle herds. Therefore, the Hannover School of Veterinary Medicine (TiHo) and the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI) are now cooperating in a research network.
The overall aim of the study is to investigate the cause of the disease in cattle which is associated with gradual wasting and can affect entire cattle holdings. A crucial point of one of hypotheses on the development of this clinical picture is the production of neurotoxin by Clostridium botulinum in the intestine of the affected animals. Task of the FLI within this project is the safe detection of this neurotoxin in the collected faecal samples. Selection and classification of the samples into an epidemiological category are done by the TiHo which also coordinates the project.