Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva, Laboratório de Bacteriologia , Santa Maria, RS , Brasil.
Braz J Microbiol. 2008 Jan;39(1):188-93. doi: 10.1590/S1517-838220080001000036. Epub 2008 Mar 1.
Rhodococcus equi is a gram-positive coco-bacillus and an intracellular opportunistic pathogen which causes pneumonia in foals. It is widely detected in environment and has been isolated from several sources, as soil, feces and gut from health and sick foals. The goal of this study was to characterize the epidemiological status (endemic, sporadic or no infection) of horse breeding farms from Bage County in South of Brazil, using a multiplex PCR. One hundred and eighteen R. equi isolates were identified by biochemical tests and submitted to a specie-specific and vapA multiplex PCR. These isolates were obtained from: three farms where the R. equi infection has been noticed, two farms where the disease has been not reported and one farm where the disease is frequent. All clinical isolates from horse breeding farms where the disease is endemic and/or sporadic were vapA-positive. None environmental isolates were vapA-positive. In three horse breeding farms with sporadic R. equi infection, 11.54% of the isolates from adult horse feces were vapA-positive. The multiplex PCR technique has proven to be effective for the molecular and epidemiological characterization of the R. equi isolates in horse breeding farms. An important finding in this study was the isolation of vapApositive R. equi from adult horse feces, which is an evidence for other routes of dissemination of this pathogen in the farms.
马红球菌是一种革兰阳性的球杆菌，也是一种细胞内机会性病原体，可引起驹肺炎。它广泛存在于环境中，已从土壤、粪便和健康及患病驹的肠道等多种来源中分离出来。本研究的目的是使用多重 PCR 来描述巴伊亚州南部贝格县（Bage County）的马场的流行病学状况（地方性、散发性或无感染）。通过生化试验鉴定了 118 株马红球菌分离株，并进行了种特异性和 vapA 多重 PCR 检测。这些分离株来自：三个已发现马红球菌感染的农场、两个未报告该疾病的农场和一个该病频发的农场。来自有地方性和/或散发性马红球菌感染的马场的所有临床分离株 vapA 均为阳性。没有环境分离株 vapA 阳性。在三个有散发性马红球菌感染的马场中，11.54%来自成年马粪便的分离株 vapA 阳性。多重 PCR 技术已被证明可有效用于马属动物养殖场中马红球菌分离株的分子和流行病学特征分析。本研究的一个重要发现是从成年马粪便中分离出 vapA 阳性的马红球菌，这表明该病原体在农场中可能存在其他传播途径。
