Treatment With Probiotic Bacteria Does Not Diminish the Impact of a Cystoisospora suis Challenge in Suckling Piglets

Abstract

Colonization of newborn piglets with beneficial and ubiquitous microorganisms in combination with colostral passive immunity is the prerequisite for development of immunity and gut maturation. In this study living strains of Clostridium perfringens type A (CpA) and non-pathogenic Escherichia (E.) coli strains harvested from healthy piglets were administered to piglets prior to first colostrum intake in order to prevent disease caused by pathogenic variants of the same bacterial species by competitive exclusion. In addition, it was investigated whether these potential beneficial colonizers were able to prevent harmful effects of infection with Cystoisospora (C.) suis as a primary invasive pathogen. In a first trial, half of the piglets from four litters were treated with a bacterial cocktail consisting of two E. coli and four CpA strains immediately after birth on two consecutive days, while the other half of the litters served as control group. In a second trial, piglets were treated following the protocol of the first trial, and additionally all piglets were infected 4 h after the end of littering with ~1,000 sporulated oocysts of a C. suis laboratory strain. General health, body weight development, fecal consistency and, in the second trial, oocyst excretion were monitored from birth until weaning. No adverse effects of the cocktail on the health status were observed. Treated piglets of the first trial showed a higher average daily weight gain until weaning. In the second trial, no significant differences were found with respect to average daily weight gain, fecal consistency, amount, and duration of oocyst excretion assessed in daily samples. In treatment group 51.1% and in the control group 38.5% of the fecal samples were positive for oocysts in autofluorescence. The average duration of oocyst excretion was longer in treatment group (7.7 days) than in control group (5.6 days). Application of bacterial cocktail could not effectively minimize disease symptoms caused by C. suis. There was a trend toward an increase in severity of disease symptoms in treated pigs, suggesting that the synergism between CpA and C. suis was independent of the bacterial strains, but is exclusively dominated by the pathogenic effect of C. suis.

Shifts in the Fecal Microbial Community of Cystoisospora suis Infected Piglets in Response to Toltrazuril

“…Positive associations of the genera Sutterella, Dialister and Clostridiales with the area under the curve for oocyst per gram feces in the present study (indicating the severity of infection) also indicated that the gut microbiota in general is probably considerably affected by C. suis infection. By contrast, repeated supplementation of probiotic bacterial cocktail immediately after birth had no influence on fecal consistency and amount and duration of oocyst excretion in C. suis infected piglets (Unterweger et al, 2018); therefore, this influence appears largely one-sided. However, further studies are necessary to elucidate the underlying role of specific microbial populations in the establishment and overall consequences of cystoisosporosis.…”

“…For Clostridium perfringens type A (CpA) increased growth and adhesion in the presence of C. suis could be demonstrated in experimental infections with C. suis, and anticoccidial treatment with toltrazuril also prevented CpA overgrowth and CpA-induced necrotic enteritis (Mengel et al, 2012), indicating a synergistic relationship between C. suis and CpA. On the other hand, probiotic bacteria had no appreciable influence on the course of C. suis infection despite a beneficial effect in healthy piglets (Unterweger et al, 2018). This indicates that C. suis induces intestinal microbiota disruption in preweaned piglets, not vice versa.…”

Efficacy of injectable toltrazuril-iron combination product and oral toltrazuril against early experimental infection of suckling piglets with Cystoisospora suis

“…perfringens and C. suis are not resolved; however, it appears that enteritis caused by coccidial infections promotes intestinal colonisation and (over)growth with Cl. perfringens and induces necrotic enteritis in piglets [14, 18] as well as in chickens [19]. Experimental studies in chickens have shown that infections with coccidia promote the growth of mucolytic bacteria, most probably due to the intestinal mucogenic response to parasite infection and leakage of glycoproteins and mannose residues from intestinal cells which promote the adhesion of pathogenic bacteria and together with other pro-inflammatory responses, result in necrotic enteritis (reviewed in [20]).…”

The fecal microbiota evolves differently in piglets experimentally infected with Cystoisospora suis that are treated with toltrazuril

“…Positive associations of the genera Sutterella, Dialister and Clostridiales with the area under the curve for oocyst per gram feces in the present study (indicating the severity of infection) also indicated that the gut microbiota in general is probably considerably affected by C. suis infection. By contrast, repeated supplementation of probiotic bacterial cocktail immediately after birth had no influence on fecal consistency and amount and duration of oocyst excretion in C. suis infected piglets[17]; therefore, this influence appears largely one-sided. However, further studies are necessary to elucidate the underlying role of specific microbial populations in the establishment and overall consequences of cystoisosporosis.ConclusionWith increasing pressure to reduce the use of antimicrobials in production animals, there is a growing interest to better understand the shifts in microbial composition and structure during individual development, also in the presence of enteropathogens.…”

“…For Clostridium perfringens type A (CpA) increased growth and adhesion in the presence of C. suis could be demonstrated in experimental infections with C. suis, and anticoccidial treatment with toltrazuril also prevented CpA overgrowth and CpA-induced necrotic enteritis [16], indicating a synergistic relationship between C. suis and CpA. On the other hand, probiotic bacteria had no appreciable influence on the course of C. suis infection despite a beneficial effect in healthy piglets [17], indicating that C. suis may be a driver of intestinal microbiota disruption in pre-weaned piglets.…”