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Elimination of strains of Streptococcus suis serotype 2 from the tonsils of carrier sows by combined medication and vaccination

¹ Department of Farm Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, PO Box 80151, 3508 TD Utrecht, The Netherlands
² Division of Infectious Diseases, Animal Sciences Group, Wageningen University and Research Centre, PO Box 65, 8200 AB Lelystad, The Netherlands

The effect of vaccination with a killed whole-cell vaccine of extracellular factor-positive Streptococcus suis serotype 2 (S suis 2 EF⁺) combined with medication with amoxicillin on the presence of virulent S suis 2 EF⁺ strains on the tonsils of sows and their offspring was evaluated. In two herds, 14 pregnant sows that carried these virulent strains, as detected by PCR in three consecutive tonsillar brush samples, were selected and randomly assigned to be treated or left untreated as controls. The treated sows were vaccinated at six and three weeks before the expected farrowing date and medicated from one week before expected farrowing until the end of the experiment. Two weeks before parturition, the sows were housed in individual isolation farrowing rooms, and the sow and its litter were sampled by using tonsil brushes and tonsil swabs, respectively. Approximately 27 days postpartum, the sows and their piglets were euthanased and their tonsils were collected and analysed by PCR. No S suis 2 EF⁺ could be detected in the tonsils of the seven treated sows, but the tonsils of the seven untreated sows remained positive. Only one of the litters of the untreated sows became infected, five days after birth, and none of the litters of the treated sows became infected.