Swine Health
June 2008

Bacterial fingerprint database and the fight against respiratory illnesses in swine

University of Minnesota researchers, funded by the Pork Checkoff, have created the Molecular Bacteriology Laboratory Web site (http://molecularbacteriology.com/database.aspx).  This electronic tool will allow veterinarians and producers to design strategies to control respiratory pathogens such as Actinobacillus suis, Streptococcus suis and Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae.

To populate the Web tool, researchers developed genotyping techniques for the three bacteria, created genomic fingerprint databases of the different bacterial strains and organized the databases to include isolation date, geographic area from where a sample was obtained, age of the pig affected by the bacteria, tissue from which the bacteria was isolated from, lesions observed in the animals and other information about each strain including its antibiotic resistance profile.

Field veterinarians can order the genotyping of these bacteria from field-collected samples.  Results will allow them to:

• Identify prevalent strains causing disease in specific herds,

• Select strains to be included in autogenous (or universal) vaccines,

• Identify new virulent strains introduced into the herd, and

• Track potential sources of these virulent strains. 

The information will use the results to further populate the Web tool. 

In the process of developing the tool, researchers made interesting discoveries about each of the pathogens.  Only a dozen strains of A. suis were found from over 100 isolates.  Additionally, one of the different strain groups was found in virtually all production phases and herds in the study.  Researchers suggest that this strain can be used in the development of a successful universal vaccine.

A. pleuropneumoniae genotyping can be used to track the introduction of new strains into swine herds and not for the development of vaccines. However, genotyping has been used to identify several strains of Actinobacillus sp. Isolated from lungs and with no further identifications.

The Streptococcus suis database already is being widely used by field veterinarians for selection of vaccine strains. This database has also been also important to understand the public health risks S. suis represents to the North American swine production systems. In essence, the surveillance system needed to troubleshoot potential cases of human infection is now in place. 

Researchers describe the tool as a surveillance system that will monitor the genetic variability and epidemiology of these swine bacterial pathogens.

The genomic database for swine bacterial pathogens is available for consultation at: http://molecularbacteriology.com/database.aspx and is maintained by Dr. Simone Oliveira (oliv0107@umn.edu).

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