Detection and molecular typing of Streptococcus suis in tonsils from live pigs in France

Streptococcus suis is an important pathogen of swine, causing meningitis, arthritis, polyserositis, septicemia, and sudden death in weaning piglets as well as fattening pigs. Recently, 3 molecular tests have been developed in our laboratory: a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (m-PCR) assay for the detection of S. suis species and serotypes 2 and 1/2, and 2 molecular typing methods, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and an approach based on PCR amplification of a fragment of rRNA genes, including a part of the 16S and 23S genes and the 16S-23S rDNA intergenic spacer region (ISR), followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis (ISR-RFLP). In the present study, we used these tests to analyze tonsil samples from clinically healthy pigs and to identify individual isolates of S. suis during epidemiologic investigations of 8 related herds with a history of septicemia caused by S. suis serotype 2. Capsular typing showed that 58% of the strains were nontypable. Of the 17 serotypes present, serotype 22 was the most prevalent. In the 7 farms without clinical signs on the day of sampling, we detected S. suis serotype 2 or 1/2, or both, in less than 5% of the pigs by m-PCR or by bacteriologic culture. In the 8th farm, on which 2 pigs had clinical signs of septicemia on the day of sampling, we detected S. suis serotype 2 or 1/2, or both, by m-PCR in the tonsils of 40% of fattening pigs (21 wk old) that lacked symptoms. Molecular typing of the serotype 2 strains showed a common origin of contamination in these herds, given that 1 pattern (C1) was detected in the isolates from 6 of the 8 herds. However, up to 4 patterns were associated with septicemia and sudden death. Several patterns of S. suis serotype 2 can be responsible for disease in the same herd. These molecular tools may be useful for confident studies of the transmission of S. suis, thereby contributing to the control of S. suis infection.