Prompt detection of infectious animal diseases can prevent economic losses and ensure food security

A swine bacterial pathogen, Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus or “Strep zoo,” is difficult to detect with conventional methods because virulent strains show only minor genetic differences from benign bacteria commonly found in healthy pigs and other animals.

High mortality Strep zoo outbreaks occurred in swine herds in Canada, Tennessee, Ohio and Pennsylvania in 2019. Different versions of the pathogen also can cause a range of disease symptoms in horses, ruminants, guinea pigs, monkeys, cats, dogs, poultry, and humans. Outbreaks that go undiagnosed have the potential to spread quickly and cause devastating impacts on animal agriculture. Swine producers are eager for a way to intervene more quickly before this disease spreads.

A team led by researchers in Pennsylvania used cutting-edge tools, including next-generation sequencing, to study bacterial isolates from a lethal Pennsylvania Strep zoo outbreak in pigs.

This novel assay, which can return results in less than four hours, provides a practical solution to the previously unsolved problem of diagnosing this severe disease in swine herds. The reliability of this diagnostic tool means that it can be used to investigate the natural infection of other susceptible animals and to prevent zoonotic risk. The team’s study was reported in Frontiers in Veterinary Science.

Project supported by Hatch funds.