title: Streptococcus suis, an important pig pathogen and emerging zoonotic agent-an update on the worldwide distribution based on serotyping and sequence typing.
abstract: Streptococcus suis is an important pathogen causing economic problems in the pig industry. Moreover, it is a zoonotic agent causing severe infections to people in close contact with infected pigs or pork-derived products. Although considered sporadic in the past, human S. suis infections have been reported during the last 45 years, with two large outbreaks recorded in China. In fact, the number of reported human cases has significantly increased in recent years. In this review, we present the worldwide distribution of serotypes and sequence types (STs), as determined by multilocus sequence typing, for pigs (between 2002 and 2013) and humans (between 1968 and 2013). The methods employed for S. suis identification and typing, the current epidemiological knowledge regarding serotypes and STs and the zoonotic potential of S. suis are discussed. Increased awareness of S. suis in both human and veterinary diagnostic laboratories and further establishment of typing methods will contribute to our knowledge of this pathogen, especially in regions where complete and/or recent data is lacking. More research is required to understand differences in virulence that occur among S. suis strains and if these differences can be associated with specific serotypes or STs.
authors.affiliation: Groupe de recherche sur les maladies infectieuses du porc, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Montreal , Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec J2S 2M2, Canada.
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Goyette-Desjardins
authors.affiliation: Groupe de recherche sur les maladies infectieuses du porc, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Montreal , Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec J2S 2M2, Canada.
authors.forename: Jean-Philippe
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Auger
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention , Beijing 102206, China.
authors.forename: Jianguo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Groupe de recherche sur les maladies infectieuses du porc, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Montreal , Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec J2S 2M2, Canada.
authors.forename: Mariela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Segura
authors.affiliation: Groupe de recherche sur les maladies infectieuses du porc, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Montreal , Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec J2S 2M2, Canada.
authors.forename: Marcelo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gottschalk
keywords: Streptococcus suis; pig pathogen; sequence types; serotypes; zoonotic agent