Prevalence, capsular type and antimicrobial susceptibility of Streptococcus suis isolated from slaughter pigs in Korea.

This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence, capsular serotype, and antimicrobial susceptibility of Streptococcus suis isolated from slaughter pigs. Capsular serotype and antimicrobial susceptibility were determined by coagglutination test and agar dilution minimum inhibitory concentration, respectively. Streptococcus suis was isolated from 55 of the 406 palatine tonsillar samples tested (13.8%) and 14 of the 29 sampled herds (48.3%). Of the 55 isolates recovered from slaughter pigs, 26 (47.3%) were untypeable. Of the remaining 29 isolates, capsular serotypes 9 (9 isolates) and 16 (4 isolates) were the most common, followed by capsular serotypes 4 (3 isolates) and 7 (3 isolates). Every capsulated isolate was typeable and no palatine tonsillar sample yielded more than one serotype. Most of isolates were susceptible to low concentrations (MIC90) of amoxicillin (2 microg/mL), ceftiofur (1 microg/mL), and penicillin (1 microg/mL). No correlation was found between antimicrobial susceptibility and capsular serotype.