Seroprevalence of Chlamydia infection in pigs in Jiangxi province, south-eastern China

Abstract

Chlamydia are Gram-negative obligate bacteria that cause a wide range of diseases in humans and animals. To assess the risk of zoonosis posed by pigs, a total of 920 serum samples were collected from pigs in 11 administrative cities in Jiangxi province, south-eastern China, and the seroprevalence of Chlamydia antibodies was investigated by an indirect haemagglutination assay. The pathogen-specific antibodies were detected in 539 (58.59 %) pigs with seroprevalence ranging from 33.33 % (Jingdezhen) to 90.91 % (Pingxiang) among different cities (P,0.05). The highest prevalence was found in pregnant sows (80.89 %, 127/157), followed by breeding boars (79.37 %, 50/63), suckling sows (77.01 %, 67/87), fattening pigs (69.32 %, 61/88) and nonpregnant sows (62.5 %, 180/288). Piglets had the lowest prevalence of 22.78 % (54/237). The seroprevalence of Chlamydia infection among different categories of pigs was also significantly different (P,0.05). These results indicate that Chlamydia is highly prevalent in pigs in Jiangxi province and our results indicate that the presence of Chlamydia exposure in pigs may pose a potential threat to human health. INTRODUCTIONChlamydia are obligate intracellular Gram-negative bacteria that are clinically and epidemiologically important in both human and veterinary medicine. They can cause a wide range of clinical manifestations including enteritis, arthritis, conjunctivitis, pneumonia, encephalitis, infertility and abortion in animals, as well as blindness and urogenital or respiratory symptoms in humans (Longbottom & Coulter, 2003;Rohde et al., 2010). Exceptionally, severe disease and even death may result from chlamydial exposure (Petrovay & Balla, 2008).Chlamydia is a single genus in the family Chlamydiaceae and comprises nine different species (Longbottom & Coulter, 2003;Stephens et al., 2009). Four of these species have been described in pigs: Chlamydia suis, Chlamydia pecorum, Chlamydia abortus and Chlamydia psittaci (Rohde et al., 2010;Schautteet & Vanrompay, 2011). Currently, pigs are the only known natural host of C. suis. A high degree of genetic diversity was observed in C. suis when compared with other chlamydial species. C. pecorum has been isolated only from mammals, such as pigs, ruminants and koalas, causing a wide range of pathologies. C. abortus is one of the main pathogens causing abortion in sheep in many countries, and has also been associated with abortion in pigs. Furthermore, pregnant women can be infected through contact with animals infected with C. abortus, as it is also a zoonotic pathogen (Schautteet & Vanrompay, 2011). C. psittaci is another zoonotic pathogen that poses a risk to public health.To date, studies concerning Chlamydia infection in pigs have been reported in many countries (Di Francesco et al., 2006;Eggemann et al., 2000;Schautteet et al., 2013;Vanrompay et al., 2004), and several studies have reported the seroprevalence of Chlamydia infection in pigs in central and southern China (Xu et al., 2010;Zhang et al., 2013;Zhou et al., 2008). Limited inf...

Chlamydia psittaci exposure in pet birds

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