title: [Septicaemia in piglets associated with a positive finding of a methicillin-resistant S. aureus strain].
abstract: Staphylococcus (S.) aureus has been associated with septicaemia, mastitis, vaginitis, metritis, osteomyelitis, and endocarditis. This case report demonstrates S. aureus-induced septicaemia in suckling pig- lets. Three days after birth, littermates displayed severe ecchymosis and cyanosis, with a 50% mortality rate. The surviving littermates were cross-fostered, but died 1 day later. Other piglets, which were allowed to suck at the sow, developed similar clinical signs. Haematological findings were anaemia, thrombocytopenia, and leukopenia; therefore, neither isohaemolytic anaemia nor septicaemia could be excluded as differential diagnoses. At necropsy, petechial bleeding on inner organ surfaces and free blood in body cavities were found. Bacteriological examination of the sow's milk and of the spleen of one piglet detected a methicillin-resistent S. aureus strain (MRSA CC398), which was in all likelihood the cause of the disease. Potential differential diagnoses are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Mag. Robert Graage, Klinik für Schweine, Veterinärmedizinische Universität Wien, Veterinärplatz 1, A-1210 Wien, E-Mail: Robert.Graage@vetmeduni.ac.at.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Graage
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ganter
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Verspohl
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Strommenger
authors.forename: K-H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Waldmann
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Baumgärtner
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hennig-Pauka
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018805:Sepsis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D013552:Swine; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*
keywords: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; anaemia; cyanosis; ecchymosis; pig; septicaemia; thrombocytopenia