Characterisation of Streptococcus suis isolates from wild boars (Sus scrofa)

Wild boar are widely distributed throughout the Iberian Peninsula and can carry potentially virulent strains of Streptococcus suis. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of S. suis in wild boars from two large geographical regions of Spain. Serotypes 1, 2, 7 and 9 identified were further genetically characterised by virulence-associated genotyping, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) to determine the population structure of S. suis carried by these animals. Streptococcus suis was isolated from 39.1% of the wild boars examined: serotype 9 was the most frequently isolated (12.5%), followed by serotype 1 (2.5%). Serotype 2 was rarely isolated (0.3%). Eighteen additional serotypes were identified indicating wide diversity of this pathogen within the wild boar population. This heterogeneity was confirmed by PFGE and MLST analyses and the majority of isolates exhibited the virulence-associated genotype mrp-/epf-/sly-. The results of this study highlight that the carriage of S. suis by wild boars is commonplace. However, MLST data indicate that these isolates are not related to prevalent clonal complexes ST1, ST16, ST61 and ST87 typically associated with infection of pigs or humans in Europe.