Tools to mitigate disease associated with Streptococcus zooepidemicus: an emerging threat to the Canadian pork industry

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Since spring 2019, multiple cases of sow mortality (>50%, sudden death with minimal respiratory signs) and abortions (11 times higher than normal) have been reported in Canada and the USA. These cases were definitively associated with Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus (S. zoo), which is now considered an emerging threat to the North American pork industry. Our team responded to the first cases in Canada, characterizing the bacteria and supporting veterinarians and the industry with the development of diagnostic tests. Preliminary field trials using standard autogenous vaccines did not result in protection against infection. Thus, current tools to control the disease in affected farms are limited to depopulation, which is estimated to cost over CAD $15 million in larger production systems. Moving forward, to prevent further losses across Canada, the development of efficient preventive and control methods is critical.The goal of the work proposed here is to investigate the development of tools for the prevention and control of S. zoo, to reduce disease severity in pigs and potentially prevent infection. We will employ cutting edge research tools (e.g. transcriptomics) to characterize how and where S. zoo infects pigs, and employ this knowledge to develop a vaccine or non-antibiotic compounds that will protect pigs from infection and reduce deaths.