The first isolation of Clostridium massiliodielmoense from a dead beef cow in Japan and pitfalls to be aware of in identifying the Clostridium species.

Clostridium sp. was detected in the organs of a cow with black watery diarrhea in Japan. Results identifying this species were inconsistent; Clostridium novyi type A infection was suggested by PCR assay targeting Clostridium fliC region (fliC-multiplex PCR), while 16S rRNA gene sequencing identified the isolated bacteria as Clostridium massiliodielmoense. Sequencing of fliC-multiplex PCR products from the isolates revealed the presence of fliC region in C. massiliodielmoense, which had 92.7% nucleotide similarity to that of C. novyi type A JCM 1406