title: Nationwide molecular surveillance of exfoliative toxigenic Staphylococcus hyicus on pig farms across Japan.
abstract: We investigated the carriage of Staphylococcus hyicus and their exfoliative toxin genes (exhA, exhB, exhC, exhD, and shetb) among 424 pigs from 38 Japanese pig farms by PCR and characterized the isolates by 16S-23S intergenic spacer region polymorphism analysis. S. hyicus (n=207) were isolated from 17.9% of pigs and 72.5% of them were toxigenic. The isolation rate of toxigenic S. hyicus was four times higher in the pigs with exudative epidermitis than the healthy pigs (87.6% versus 19.6%; p<0.01). Among the toxins, exhA was the most prevalent, being detectable in 49.3% of toxin gene-positive strains. S. hyicus isolates were distributed into nine ITS-PCR types (a-i), with ITS-PCR types d, h, and e being predominant accounting for 70% (145/207) of total isolates or 76% (114/150) of toxin gene-positive strains. This study denotes high prevalence of toxigenic strains among S. hyicus circulating on pig farms in Japan.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Health 2, School of Veterinary Medicine, Azabu University, 1-17-71 Fuchinobe, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 229-8501, Japan. saitohk@azabu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Futagawa-Saito
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ba-Thein
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Higuchi
authors.forename: Naomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sakurai
authors.forename: Tsuguaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukuyasu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting / Q000662:veterinary; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer; D004818:Epidermitis, Exudative, of Swine / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D005083:Exfoliatins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D018571:Sentinel Surveillance / Q000662:veterinary; D013045:Species Specificity; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D013552:Swine
chemical_list: D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer; D005083:Exfoliatins