Molecular Epidemiology of VapA-Positive Rhodococcus equi in Thoroughbred Horses in Kagoshima, Japan.

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The prevalence of virulent R. equi having 15-to 17-kDa antigens (VapA) in fecal isolates from 13 thoroughbred foals and their dams on 5 farms in Kagoshima, Japan, and the plasmid profiles of VapA-positive isolates by restriction fragment digestion patterns were investigated to compare the genotypic variation among virulence plasmids of R. equi isolates from Japan. In total, 218 (24.6%) of 886 isolates from the feces of the 13 foals and 13 (12.5%) of 104 isolates from the feces of their dams demonstrated VapA-positive R. equi. Plasmid DNA preparations of 231 virulent isolates from foals and dams were analyzed by restriction enzyme digestion with endonucleases EcoRI, EcoT22I and HindIII and were divided into 3 types: 172 isolates contained a 90-kb type I plasmid, 57 contained a 90-kb type III plasmid and 2 contained a 90-kb type IV plasmid. This study demonstrates a geographic character in the distribution of virulence plasmids found in VapA-positive isolates from thoroughbred foals in Kagoshima.

Rhodococcus equi Virulence Plasmids Recovered from Horses and Their Environment in Jeju, Korea: 90-kb Type II and a New Variant, 90-kb Type V

“…The 90-kb type II plasmid was not found in isolates from the other native horses or from Thoroughbred horses [23]. Isolates from the Misaki horses, which are bred in Miyazaki on Kyushu Island, contained a 90-kb type I plasmid [23,31]. Isolates from crossbred and Thoroughbred foals in Kumamoto and Kagoshima contained either a 90-kb type III plasmid or a 90-kb type IV plasmid.…”

“…These five types of virulence plasmids have never been isolated from Japanese samples. On the other hand, the 87-kb type II and 90-kb type I, II, III, and IV plasmids have been found only in clinical and environmental isolates from Japan [22,27,31]. More recently, a surveillance study of virulent R. equi was conducted in seven Japanese native horse breeds (Hokkaido, Kiso, Noma, Misaki, Tokara, Miyako, and Yonaguni), and virulent R. equi was isolated from the fecal samples from Hokkaido, Kiso, and Misaki horses [23].…”

“…1B). The digestion patterns were then compared with 10 representative virulence plasmid types (85-kb types I, II, III, and IV; 87-kb types I and II; and 90-kb types I, II, III, and IV), which have already been reported [16,22,27,31]. As shown in Fig.…”

“…These patterns have categorized the plasmids of virulent isolates into 10 closely related types [4,8,12,22,23,27]. These studies revealed geographic differences in the distributions of the virulence plasmids, not only throughout the world, but also in Japan [31].…”

Indicadores de contaminação microbiológica e pesquisa de marcadores de virulência de enteropatógenos de animais domésticos, identificadores no solo/areia de parques e praças de recreação

“…A identificação de patógenos de veiculação entérica de origem animal em ambientes de recreação infantil e/ou do cotidiano dos humanos, contemplam quase que exclusivamente o estudo de um tipo de patógeno (TAKAI et al, 1996;HAYASHI et al, 1992;SANTARÉM et al, 1998;SCHUTZE et al, 1999;PENA et al, 2006 PRESCOTT, 1991;RAHAL et al, 1999;TAKAI et al, 1999;BECU et al, 2000;TAKAI et al, 2001;TAKAI et al, 2001a;YUYAMA et al, 2002 A espécie bovina é reconhecida como a principal fonte de infecção do sorotipo O157:H7, que é eliminado pelas fezes de bovinos com e sem sinais entéricos (FAITH et al, 1996).…”