Multi-locus sequence typing of Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus strains isolated from cats

Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus ( S. zooepidemicus) causes outbreaks of fatal respiratory disease in dog shelters and fatal respiratory and neurologic disease in cat shelters. We conducted multi-locus sequence typing analysis on S. zooepidemicus isolates from 5 Canadian and 3 Israeli cats with severe respiratory and neurologic disease, plus 1 isolate from a clinically normal shelter cat. Our aim was to determine if feline outbreaks are clonal and whether there is commonality between feline and canine strains. ST363 was identified as the causative strain of a Canadian outbreak of S. zooepidemicus-linked disease, and is a double-locus variant of ST173, which was isolated from one of the Israeli cats. ST363 was also isolated from the clinically normal cat, indicative of the potential for enzootic infection in shelters. Strains within the ST173 clonal complex were responsible for 2 large canine outbreaks in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as the death of 1 cat in the United States outbreak. ST215 was isolated from 2 cats in the Israeli outbreak, and is unrelated to the ST173 complex. We conclude that S. zooepidemicus outbreaks in cat shelters are clonal and that strains within the ST173 clonal complex are pathogenic for both dogs and cats.

Bronchopneumonia in two dairy calves associated with Mannheimia species cluster V infection

The pathological, bacteriological, and molecular findings of two 3-week-old Holstein calves with bronchopneumonia are presented. Heavy pure growth of a Mannheimia species most closely aligned with the unnamed cluster V strains on the basis of 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing was detected in the lungs of both calves in association with Bovine respiratory syncytial virus infection. While Mannheimia species closely related to cluster V strains have occasionally been reported in association with pneumonia, meningitis, and abortion in cattle, the current report provides a description of the gross and histopathological lesions produced by a cluster V strain of Mannheimia species. Lesions in the lung were found to be typical of those described for Mannheimia haemolytica with the absence of areas of coagulation necrosis rimmed by leukocytes and more pronounced intra-alveolar hemorrhage. Lesions were linked to the presence of leukotoxin A based on phenotypic hemolysis and molecular demonstration of the leukotoxin A gene.