Lineage and Virulence of Streptococcus suis serotype 2 Isolates from North America

May 1, 2012 — 

We performed multilocus sequence typing of 64 North American Streptococcus suis serotype 2 porcine isolates. Strains were sequence type (ST) 28 (51%), ST25 (44%), and ST1 (5%). We identified nonrandom associations between STs and expression of the virulence markers suilysin (SLY), muramidase-relased protein (MRP), and extracellular factor (EF). Expression of pili encoded by the srtF and srtG pilus clusters was also nonrandomly associated with STs. ST1 strains were SLY+ EF+ MRP+ srtF pilus+ srtG pilus-. ST25 strains were SLY- EF- MRP- srtF pilus- srtG pilus+, and most ST28 strains were SLY- MRP+ EF- srtF pilus+ srtG pilus+. ST28 isolates proved essentially nonvirulent in a mouse infection model; ST25 strains showed moderate virulence and ST1 isolates were highly virulent. ST1 is responsible for a high proportion of S. suis disease in humans worldwide. Its presence in North America indicates that potential zoonotic S. suis outbreaks in this continent cannot be disregarded.

Fittipaldi N, Xu J, Lacouture S, Tharavichitkul P, Osaki M, Sekizaki T, Takamatsu D, Gottschalk M; Lineage and virulence of Streptococcus suis serotype 2 isolates from North America; Emerg Infect Dis. 2011 Dec;17(12):2239-44. doi: 10.3201/eid1712.110609. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22172538