Streptococcus suis BM407

Streptococci are non-motile, Gram-positive cocci with widely varying pathogenic potential that occur in pairs or chains. Streptococcus suis is a major porcine pathogen in many countries. It causes serious zoonotic diseases (diseases which can be transmitted naturally between animals and humans) such as meningitis, septicaemia, endocarditis, arthritis, and septic shock in both pigs and human beings, and mortality is high. There are 35 serotypes of S.suis, of which serotype SS2 is the most prevalent. Human infection is almost always associated with exposure to pigs or their food products. Infection is rare in Europe and N. America, while infections rates with S. suis are greater in S.E. Asia and China. Meningitis is the most common presentation in humans, but septicemia and endocarditis are also seen. Strain BM407 is ST1 by MLST, and was isolated from cerebrospinal fluid from a human case of meningitis in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 2004. It is resistant to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline, erythromycin, azithromycin and chloramphenicol and susceptible to penicillin, ceftriaxone and vancomycin. It contains an almost identical pathogenicity island to that previously found in human pathogenic strains (STRS2 and STRSY), although it was probably acquired. This island is not however absolutely required for human pathogenicity (adapted from PubMed 19603075). (HAMAP: STRS4)