Extracellular proteins and virulence in Streptococcus bovis isolates from pigeons

The association between virulence and the occurrence of the extracellular proteins A, T1, T2 and T3 in the culture supernatant of pigeon Streptococcus bovis strains, was examined in experimental infection studies. Fourteen groups of 10-17 pigeons were inoculated intravenously with 1 x 10(9) CFU of S. bovis strains that belonged to the phenotypes A + T1, A - T1, A + T2, A - T2, A + T3 and A - T3, respectively. The overall postinoculation morbidity in the phenotype groups was 85%, 87%, 70%, 5%, 100% and 37%, respectively. These results indicate that strains producing A or T1 are of high virulence, those producing T3 only are of moderate virulence and those producing T2 are of low virulence. Virulence of S. bovis for pigeons was more clearly correlated with supernatant-phenotype than with serotype.