Correlation between PFGE Groups and mrpepfsly Genotypes of Human Streptococcus suis Serotype 2 in Northern Thailand

Abstract EN

Streptococcus suis infection is a severe zoonotic disease commonly found in Northern Thailand where people often consume raw pork and/or pig’s blood.

The most frequent clinical presentations are meningitis, sepsis, and endocarditis with higher rate of mortality and hearing loss sequelae.

To clarify the correlation between pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) groups and mrp/epf/sly genotypes of S.

suis serotype 2, 62 patient and 4 healthy pig isolates from Northern Thailand were studied.

By PFGE analysis, at 66% homology, most human isolates (69.4%) and 1 pig isolate were in group A, whereas 14.5% of human isolates and 3 out of 4 pig isolates were in group D.

According to mrp/epf/sly genotypes, 80.6% of human isolates were identified in mrp + epf − sly − and only 12.9% were in mrp − epf − sly + genotypes; in contrast, 1 and 3 pig isolates were detected in these two genotypes, respectively.

Interestingly, all isolates of S.

suis serotype 2 classified in PFGE groups A, B, and E were set in mrp + epf − sly − genotypes.

These data show a close correlation between PFGE groups and mrp/epf/sly genotypes of human S.

suis serotype 2.