Antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of porcine mycoplasmas isolated from samples collected in southern Europe.

BACKGROUND: Mycoplasma (M.) hyopneumoniae, M. hyorhinis and M. hyosynoviae are significant pathogens for the porcine industry worldwide. The aim of the present study was to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility of six key antimicrobials (tylosin, tilmicosin, tylvalosin, lincomycin, tiamulin and valnemulin) routinely used for treating infections caused by these pathogens. Twenty-seven M. hyopneumoniae, 48 M. hyorhinis and 40 M. hyosynoviae field strains isolated from clinical samples from different Southern European countries between 2013 and 2018 using broth microdilution method were evaluated. RESULTS: Tylvalosin exhibited the highest in vitro activity among the macrolides assayed, with MIC90 values 4 to 5 two-fold dilutions lower than those of tylosin and tilmicosin. The pleuromutilin valnemulin showed one of the highest in vitro activities against the three mycoplasma species. On the contrary, lincomycin exhibited the highest MIC values of the antimicrobials tested. CONCLUSIONS: The data obtained in the present study supports the use of pleuromutilins and macrolides for the control of infections caused by porcine mycoplasmas. The use of lincomycin for the treatment of porcine mycoplasma infections should be carefully evaluated due to the presence of circulating field isolates with decreased susceptibility to this antimicrobial.

Optimization of an antibiotic sensitivity assay for Mycoplasma hyosynoviae and susceptibility profiles of field isolates from 1997 to 2011.

Mycoplasma hyosynoviae is a common agent responsible for polyarthritis leading to decreased production in swine herds worldwide. Antimicrobial agents are used to combat infections; however breakpoints for M. hyosynoviae have not yet been established. A number of methods have previously been utilized to analyze minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) for antibiotics against M. hyosynoviae; however these techniques as currently described are not easily standardized between laboratories. A dry microbroth dilution method was conducted to compare the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) for 18 antibiotics, representative of different classes, against 24 recent isolates (23 field isolates and the type strain) of M. hyosynoviae. The MICs were determined using standard, commercially available 96-well Sensititre(®) plates containing various freeze-dried antibiotics at a range of concentrations appropriate to their potency. Clindamycin (CLI), a lincosamide antibiotic, showed the highest activity and most consistent inhibition for all isolates with an MIC(50) of ≤ 0.12 µg/ml. Tiamulin (TIA), a pleuromutilin derivative, exhibited an MIC(50) of ≤ 0.25 µg/ml. The isolates had similar levels of susceptibility to the quinolones, enrofloxacin (ENRO) and danofloxacin (DANO), exhibiting an MIC(50) of 0.25 µg/ml and 0.5 µg/ml, respectively. For the macrolides, the MIC(50) for tylosin (TYLT) and tilmicosin (TIL) was ≤ 0.25 µg/ml and ≤ 2 µg/ml respectively, but was ≤ 16 µg/ml for tulathromycin (TUL). For the aminoglycosides, the MIC(50) for gentamicin (GEN) was ≤ 0.5 µg/ml, while spectinomycin (SPE) and neomycin (NEO) had an MIC(50) of ≤ 4 µg/ml. The tetracyclines, oxytetracycline (OXY) and chlortetracycline (CTET) both had an MIC(50) of ≤ 2 µg/ml. Florfenicol (FFN) exhibited a MIC(50) of ≤ 1 µg/ml. All isolates were resistant to penicillin (PEN), ampicillin (AMP), ceftiofur (TIO), trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (SXT), and sulphadimethoxine (SDM) at all concentrations. Within the isolates tested, there was a range of sensitivity detected, with some isolates being overall more resistant while others appeared more susceptible. Further research is required to demonstrate how this MIC data correlates to clinical efficacy of the various antibiotics in the field.