bStreptococcus suis serotype 2 is an important swine bacterial pathogen, and it is also an emerging zoonotic agent. It is unknown how S. suis virulent strains, which are usually found in low quantities in pig tonsils, manage to cross the first host defense lines to initiate systemic disease. Influenza virus produces a contagious infection in pigs which is frequently complicated by bacterial coinfections, leading to significant economic impacts. In this study, the effect of a preceding swine influenza H1N1 virus (swH1N1) infection of swine tracheal epithelial cells (NTPr) on the ability of S. suis serotype 2 to adhere to, invade, and activate these cells was evaluated. Cells preinfected with swH1N1 showed bacterial adhesion and invasion levels that were increased more than 100-fold compared to those of normal cells. Inhibition studies confirmed that the capsular sialic acid moiety is responsible for the binding to virus-infected cell surfaces. Also, preincubation of S. suis with swH1N1 significantly increased bacterial adhesion to/invasion of epithelial cells, suggesting that S. suis also uses swH1N1 as a vehicle to invade epithelial cells when the two infections occur simultaneously. Influenza virus infection may facilitate the transient passage of S. suis at the respiratory tract to reach the bloodstream and cause bacteremia and septicemia. S. suis may also increase the local inflammation at the respiratory tract during influenza infection, as suggested by an exacerbated expression of proinflammatory mediators in coinfected cells. These results give new insight into the complex interactions between influenza virus and S. suis in a coinfection model.

Mastitis affects the health and welfare of dairy cows worldwide. Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) are known to form biofilms and are increasingly recognized as a cause of persistent bovine intramammary infections. A total of 90 CNS isolated from cows with clinical and subclinical mastitis in Argentina from 2008 to 2014 were identified by PCR-RFLP using the gap gene. Standard microtiter plate assays were used to assess CNS biofilm formation, and Staphylococcus haemolyticus species formed the strongest biofilms. The presence of biofilm-associated genes icaA, bap and aap was detected in a few isolates, while embP, fbe, atlE and eno were present in the majority of isolates. Genes encoding resistance to β-lactams were detected among the isolates; blaZ, mecA and mecC were detected in 21, 4 and 1 isolate, respectively. Resistance to macrolides and lincosamides (n = 6) was attributable to ermB, ermC, mphC or mrsA or a combination of those genes. In this study, we identified CNS species involved in mastitis and provide information about pathogenicity and antimicrobial resistance, which is essential to design efficient strategies to control mastitis caused by CNS.

The study reported in this Research Communication was conducted to characterise Staphylococcus aureus isolates recovered from mastitic bovine milk from dairy herds in Argentina. A total of 829 mastitic milk samples, both clinical and subclinical, were collected from 21 farms by veterinarians and submitted to the laboratory for testing from which 229 S. aureus isolates were recovered, an isolation rate of 28·1%. These isolates were tested for susceptibility to the antibiotics penicillin, erythromycin and clindamycin. Of the 229 isolates, 53 (23·1%) were resistant to penicillin, 31 (13·5%) to erythromycin and 28 (12·2%) to clindamycin. All isolates were negative for the mecA, mecC and pvl genes by PCR. Southernblot hybridisation revealed that the ermC gene was located on plasmid bands. Eighty isolates were randomly selected from the 229 for further characterisation. Restriction analysis of chromosomal DNA with Cf9I followed by PFGE of the 80 isolates revealed 23 distinct pulsotypes at 80% similarity. Seven major types (A, B, N, P, S, T, U and V) accounted for 68·7% of these isolates and 12 pulsotypes (A, B, F, G, J, K, M, N, P, S, T and U) occurred on more than one farm indicating genetic diversity within the farms. MLST of a representative isolate from dominant types identified the STs 97 705, 746, 2102 and 2187 with ST97 being the most predominant. Antibiotic susceptibility testing showed that 53·7% of the 80 randomly selected isolates were resistant to at least one of the three antibiotics tested. To our knowledge, this study represents the first large scale molecular studies on S. aureus isolates from dairy farms in Argentina.

Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serotype Dublin is a host-adapted serotype in cattle, associated with enteritis and systemic disease. The primary clinical manifestation of Salmonella Dublin infection in cattle, especially calves, is respiratory disease. While rare in humans, it can cause severe illness, including bacteremia, with hospitalization and death. In the United States, S. Dublin has become one of the most multidrug-resistant serotypes. The objective of this study was to characterize S. Dublin isolates from sick cattle by analyzing phenotypic and genotypic antimicrobial resistance (AMR) profiles, the presence of plasmids, and phylogenetic relationships. S. Dublin isolates (n = 140) were selected from submissions to the NVSL for Salmonella serotyping (2014–2017) from 21 states. Isolates were tested for susceptibility against 14 class-representative antimicrobial drugs. Resistance profiles were determined using the ABRicate with Resfinder and NCBI databases, AMRFinder and PointFinder. Plasmids were detected using ABRicate with PlasmidFinder. Phylogeny was determined using vSNP. We found 98% of the isolates were resistant to more than 4 antimicrobials. Only 1 isolate was pan-susceptible and had no predicted AMR genes. All S. Dublin isolates were susceptible to azithromycin and meropenem. They showed 96% resistance to sulfonamides, 97% to tetracyclines, 95% to aminoglycosides and 85% to beta-lactams. The most common AMR genes were: sulf2 and tetA (98.6%), aph(6)-Id (97.9%), aph(3’’)-Ib, (97.1%), floR (94.3%), and blaCMY-2 (85.7%). All quinolone resistant isolates presented mutations in gyrA. Ten plasmid types were identified among all isolates with IncA/C2, IncX1, and IncFII(S) being the most frequent. The S. Dublin isolates show low genomic genetic diversity. This study provided antimicrobial susceptibility and genomic insight into S. Dublin clinical isolates from cattle in the U.S. Further sequence analysis integrating food and human origin S. Dublin isolates may provide valuable insight on increased virulence observed in humans.