Evaluation of vaccination with a commercial subunit vaccine on shedding of Salmonella enterica in subclinically infected dairy cows

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the efficacy of a commercially available Salmonella enterica subunit vaccine on the subclinical shedding of S enterica in dairy cattle. DESIGN: Randomized, controlled trial. ANIMALS: 175 mature cows on 2 dairy farms with a history of S enterica infection. PROCEDURES: 25% of the mature cows from each herd were systematically randomized to receive an S enterica subunit vaccine following label guidelines. The remaining 75% of cows in each herd served as nonvaccinated controls. Fecal samples were collected from all cows at the time of initial vaccination (day 0), booster vaccination (day 14), 2 weeks following the booster vaccination (day 28), and 10 weeks following the start of the trial (day 70). All samples were processed on the day of collection and cultured for S enterica. RESULTS: 651 fecal samples were obtained over the entire study period. Salmonella enterica was recovered from 46 (7.1%) of the samples. Shedding of S enterica was similar for vaccinated and nonvaccinated control cows on each of the collection dates. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The study revealed no evidence that extralabel vaccination with a commercial subunit S enterica vaccine reduced shedding of S enterica in subclinically infected dairy cows in these herds.     

Occurrence of multidrug resistant Salmonella in antimicrobial-free (ABF) swine production systems

This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella species in swine reared in the intensive (indoor) and extensive (outdoor) ABF production systems at farm and slaughter in North Carolina, U.S.A. We sampled a total of 279 pigs at farm (extensive 107; intensive 172) and collected 274 carcass swabs (extensive 124; intensive 150) at slaughter. Salmonella species were tested for their susceptibility against 12 antimicrobial agents using the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. Serogrouping was done using polyvalent and group specific antisera. A total of 400 salmonellae were isolated in this study with a significantly higher Salmonella prevalence from the intensive (30%) than the extensive farms (0.9%) (P<0.001). At slaughter, significantly higher Salmonella was isolated at the pre- and post-evisceration stages from extensively (29% pre-evisceration and 33.3% post-evisceration) than the intensively (2% pre-evisceration and 6% post-evisceration) reared swine (P<0.001). The isolates were clustered in six serogroups including B, C, E1, E4, G and R. Highest frequency of antimicrobial resistance was observed against tetracycline (78.5%) and streptomycin (31.5%). A total of 13 antimicrobial resistance patterns were observed including the pentaresistant strains with ampicillin, chloramphenicol, streptomycin, sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline resistance pattern observed only among isolates from the intensive farms (n=28) and all were serotype Salmonella typhimurium var. Copenhagen. In conclusion, this study shows that multidrug resistant Salmonella are prevalent in ABF production systems despite the absence of antimicrobial selection pressure. In addition, it also highlights the possible role played by slaughterhouse and other environmental factors in the contamination and dissemination of antimicrobial resistant Salmonella in ABF production systems.     

Pre-parturition staphylococcal mastitis in primiparous replacement goats: persistence over lactation and sources of infection

This investigation reported for the first time the occurrence of intramammary infections caused by Staphylococcus in primiparous replacement goats before parturition and the persistence of clinical Staphylococcus aureus infection during the lactation period. Subclinical infections, mainly caused by coagulase negative staphylococci (CoNS), did not persist during lactation. Genotyping analysis indicated that environment seems to play a moderate role as source of intramammary infections to goats before parturition, but causative agents of mastitis in lactating animals are not genotypically related to environmental staphylococci. The occurrence and persistence of intramammary infections in replacement goats demonstrate the need to consider those animals as potential sources of infections in dairy goat herds.