Streptococcus suis represents a primary health problem (such as meningitis, septicemia and arthritis in piglets and fatteners) in the swine industry worldwide and also an emerging zoonotic pathogen. In the Czech Republic, many pig farms repopulated their herds over the past decades to reduce morbidity and minimize treatment. The study analysed serotypes, sequence types and antimicrobial susceptibility in 39 S. suis isolates obtained from organs of diseased pigs from selected 16 repopulated farms with a history of S. suis-associated diseases and routine antimicrobial treatment with tulathromycin and/or amoxicillin. The analysis revealed diversity of collected isolates with regular occurrence of more than three serotypes per farm. The serotypes identified were 1/2 and 7, each in six isolates, followed by serotype 2 and 3 found in five isolates each, other serotypes were less frequent. Seven isolates were not typable by multiplex PCR and we also found sequence type of unknown type in thirteen isolates. The majority of S. suis isolates were resistant to clindamycin (n = 31), tetracycline (n = 29) and tilmicosin and tulathromycin (n = 28). On the other hand, with the exception of two isolates that were intermediately susceptible to penicillin and ampicillin, all isolates were susceptible to all three tested subgroups of beta-lactam antibiotics.

Department of Experimental Biology Faculty of Science Masaryk University 62500 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Infectious Diseases and Preventive Medicine Veterinary Research Institute 62100 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Marketing Authorisation Institute for State Control of Veterinary Biologicals and Medicines 62100 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Molecular Biology State Veterinary Institute Jihlava 58601 Jihlava Czech Republic

Sevaron s r o 61200 Brno Czech Republic

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Characterisation of Streptococcus suis Isolates in the Czech Republic Collected from Diseased Pigs in the Years 2018-2022