Background
Pasteurella multocida
is responsible for significant economic losses in pigs worldwide. In clinically diseased pigs, most
P. multocida
isolates are characterised as subspecies
multocida
, biovar 2 or 3 and capsular type A or D; however, there is little information regarding subspecies, biovars, and other capsular types of
P. multocida
isolates in Korea. Here, we provided information covering an extended time period regarding
P. multocida
in pigs with pneumonia in Korea using phenotypic and genotypic characterisations and data associated with the minimum inhibitory concentrations.
Results
The overall prevalence of
P. multocida
between 2008 and 2016 was 16.8% (240/1430), with 85% of the
P. multocida
isolates (204/240) coinfected with other respiratory pathogens. Of the 240 isolates, 166 were included in this study; all of these
P. multocida
isolates were characterised as subspecies
multocida
and the most prevalent phenotypes were represented by biovar 3 (68.7%;
n
= 114) and capsular type A (69.9%;
n
= 116). Additionally, three capsular type F isolates were identified, with this representing the first report of such isolates in Korea. All biovar 1 and 2 isolates were capsular types F and A, respectively. The virulence-associated gene distribution was variable; all capsular type A and D isolates harboured
pmHAS
and
hsf-1
, respectively (
P
< 0.001), with type F (biovar 1) significantly correlated with
hsf-1
(
P
< 0.05) and
pfhA
(
P
< 0.01), biovar 2 highly associated with
pfhA
and
pmHAS
, and biovar 3 significantly correlated with
hsf-1
,
pmHAS
, and
hgbB
(
P
< 0.001), whereas biovar 13 was related only to
hgbB
(
P
< 0.05). The highest resistance rate was found to be to oxytetracycline (63.3%), followed by florfenicol (16.3%).
Conclusions
P. multocida
subspecies
multocida
, biovar 3, and capsular type A was the most prevalent isolate in this study, and our findings indicated the emergence of capsular type F in Korea. Moreover, prudent use of oxytetracycline and florfenicol is required because of the identified high resistance rates. Further studies are required for continuous monitoring of the antimicrobial resistance, prevalence, and epidemiological characterisation of
P. multocida
, a...