title: Impact of serotype and sequence type on the preferential aerosolization of Streptococcus suis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Streptococcus suis is a swine pathogen that causes pneumonia, septicemia and meningitis. It is also an important zoonotic agent responsible of several outbreaks in China. S. suis strains are classified into 35 serotypes based on the composition of their polysaccharide capsule. S. suis serotype 2 causes the majority of severe infections in pigs and in human, and can be further subdivided into sequence types (STs) based on multilocus sequence typing. The ST1 is associated with highly virulent strains. In North America, the strains most commonly isolated belong to ST25 and ST28, which are respectively moderately and weakly virulent in a mouse model. The presence of S. suis bioaerosols in the air of swine confinement buildings has been previously demonstrated. The aim of this study was to better understand the aerosolization behaviour of S. suis by investigating the preferential aerosolization of various strains of S. suis, belonging to different serotypes or STs, using in-house developed environmental chamber and bubble-burst nebulizer. qPCR technology was used to analyze the ratio of S. suis strains.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results suggest that the highly virulent serotype 2 ST1 strains are preferentially aerosolized and that the S. suis preferential aerosolization is a strain-dependent process.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These observations will need to be confirmed using a larger number of strains. This study is a proof of concept and increases our knowledge on the potential aerosol transmission of S. suis.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec (CRIUCPQ), 2725 Chemin Sainte-Foy, Quebec City, QC, Canada.|Centre de Recherche en Infectiologie Porcine et Avicole (CRIPA), Fonds de Recherche Nature et Technologies du Québec (FRQNT), Saint-Hyacinthe, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Léa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gauthier-Levesque
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec (CRIUCPQ), 2725 Chemin Sainte-Foy, Quebec City, QC, Canada.|Centre de Recherche en Infectiologie Porcine et Avicole (CRIPA), Fonds de Recherche Nature et Technologies du Québec (FRQNT), Saint-Hyacinthe, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Laetitia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bonifait
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec (CRIUCPQ), 2725 Chemin Sainte-Foy, Quebec City, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Turgeon
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec (CRIUCPQ), 2725 Chemin Sainte-Foy, Quebec City, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Veillette
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec (CRIUCPQ), 2725 Chemin Sainte-Foy, Quebec City, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Phillipa
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Perrott
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche en Infectiologie Porcine et Avicole (CRIPA), Fonds de Recherche Nature et Technologies du Québec (FRQNT), Saint-Hyacinthe, QC, Canada.|Groupe de Recherche en Écologie Buccale (GREB), Faculté de Médecine Dentaire, Université Laval, Quebec City, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grenier
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec (CRIUCPQ), 2725 Chemin Sainte-Foy, Quebec City, QC, Canada. caroline.duchaine@bcm.ulaval.ca.|Centre de Recherche en Infectiologie Porcine et Avicole (CRIPA), Fonds de Recherche Nature et Technologies du Québec (FRQNT), Saint-Hyacinthe, QC, Canada. caroline.duchaine@bcm.ulaval.ca.|Département de Biochimie, Microbiologie et Bio-informatique, Faculté des Sciences et de Génie, Université Laval, Quebec City, QC, Canada. caroline.duchaine@bcm.ulaval.ca.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Duchaine
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols; D000391:Air Microbiology; D006813:Humidity; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D017011:Streptococcus suis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols
keywords: Airborne; Preferential aerosolization; Sequence type; Serotype 2; Streptococcus suis