Results suggest that placing a mat filled with a peroxygen disinfectant at the exit from the food animal ward of a veterinary teaching hospital may help reduce mechanical transmission of bacteria on the footwear of individuals leaving the ward.
Results suggested that veterinary practice experience and animal ownership were important factors influencing applicants' decision to pursue a veterinary career, but many applicants had not selected a specific career path. Opportunities exist to influence the decisions of individuals to become veterinarians and the selection of specific career paths within the veterinary profession.
Isolates of Streptococcus suis serotype 5 collected from three sows and nine of their pigs at birth were analyzed by genomic DNA fingerprinting. The cleavage patterns of DNA from S. suis isolated from the sows matched the cleavage patterns of DNA from S. suis isolated from their respective pigs. Streptococcus suis infection is a worldwide cause of meningitis in nursery pigs (11). Most clinically healthy pigs are carriers of multiple serotypes of S. suis (5). The piglets become colonized during parturition when they contact and/or swallow S. suis from sow vaginal secretions (1). Colonized piglets carry S. suis into the nursery, where it may be transmitted among other pigs and cause clinical disease as maternal immunity declines. Thirty-five serotypes of S. suis, and subtypes defined as different genotypes within these serotypes, have been identified (9, 10). Vertical transmission of S. suis has been demonstrated based on serotypes, but not subtypes, by the coagglutination method (1). Mogollon et al. have described genomic fingerprinting as a technique to study S. suis epidemiology (10). Use of this technique with the coagglutination method allows subtypes of S. suis to be identified (3, 10). The purpose of this study was to demonstrate vertical transmission of S. suis subtypes in swine. All S. suis isolates used in this study originated in healthy sows and pigs from a single herd. Samples were collected with sterile swabs (S/P brand culturette system; Baxter Diagnostics Inc., Deerfield, Ill.). Oral and vaginal swab samples were collected from each sow prior to farrowing. Piglets were removed from the vagina with sterile obstetrical sleeves into which the piglets were delivered. Sterile gauze was used to remove the fetal membranes covering each piglet's rostral surface. Swab samples from the oropharyngeal region and surface of each piglet were collected. Sow oral swab samples were plated onto sheep blood agar and incubated within 24 h of collection. These samples were not enriched, because S. suis was isolated from unenriched cultures of saliva from five of seven sows studied previously (2). Sow vaginal samples, piglet oropharyngeal samples, and piglet surface swab samples were plated onto sheep blood agar within 11 h of collection. These swab samples were then enriched in Todd-Hewitt broth (THB) for 12 h, and a sample of the THB was plated onto phenylethyl alcohol agar with 5% sheep blood and incubated for 18 h. Sow vaginal samples were enriched, because S. suis was isolated from unenriched vaginal fluids of only three of seven sows studied previously (2). After 18 to 24 h of incubation at 37°C with 5% CO 2 , up to three-0.5-to 1-mm, flat, alpha-hemolytic colonies per site for each animal sampled were selected and subcultured onto sheep blood agar. These isolates were then Gram stained and biochemically tested.
The most effective method of containing an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is by the culling of livestock. However, qualified people must diagnose the disease before the culling can begin, and they must avoid susceptible animals after having been in contact with infected premises, to prevent them from transmitting the virus. To test the effectiveness of biosecurity procedures in preventing the transmission of FMD virus (O/UK/35/2001) investigators contacted and sampled pigs inoculated with FMD virus for approximately 45 minutes and then contacted and sampled sentinel pigs and sheep after either using no biosecurity procedures, or washing their hands and donning clean outerwear, or showering and donning clean outerwear. The virus was detected in the nasal secretions of one investigator immediately after the postmortem investigation of the inoculated pigs but was not detected in samples collected between approximately 12 and 84 hours later. After the contaminated personnel had showered and changed into clean outerwear they did not transmit the strain of FMD virus to susceptible pigs and sheep.
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