Updating the genomic taxonomy and epidemiology of Campylobacter hyointestinalis.

Campylobacter hyointestinalis is a member of an emerging group of zoonotic Campylobacter spp. that are increasingly identified in both gastric and non-gastric disease in humans. Here, we discovered C. hyointestinalis in three separate classes of New Zealand ruminant livestock; cattle, sheep and deer. To investigate the relevance of these findings we performed a systematic literature review on global C. hyointestinalis epidemiology and used comparative genomics to better understand and classify members of the species. We found that C. hyointestinalis subspecies hyointestinalis has an open pangenome, with accessory gene contents involved in many essential processes such as metabolism, virulence and defence. We observed that horizontal gene transfer is likely to have played an overwhelming role in species diversification, favouring a public-goods-like mechanism of gene 'acquisition and resampling' over a tree-of-life-like vertical inheritance model of evolution. As a result, simplistic gene-based inferences of taxonomy by similarity are likely to be misleading. Such genomic plasticity will also mean that local evolutionary histories likely influence key species characteristics, such as host-association and virulence. This may help explain geographical differences in reported C. hyointestinalis epidemiology and limits what characteristics may be generalised, requiring further genomic studies of C. hyointestinalis in areas where it causes disease.

Safety of a live attenuated Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae vaccine for swine.

Infection with Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae has a significant economic impact on pig production systems worldwide. Both inactivated and attenuated vaccines are available to prevent development of clinical signs of swine erysipelas. The ability of a live attenuated E. rhusiopathiae strain to become persistently established in pigs after intranasal exposure and its potential to cause clinical signs consistent with swine erysipelas after being administered directly into the nasopharynx of healthy pigs was evaluated. Five, E. rhusiopathiae-negative pigs were vaccinated by deep intranasal inoculation then followed for 14 days. Nasal swabs were collected daily for 5 days and clinical observations were made daily for 14 days post-vaccination. Nasal swabs were cultured for E. rhusiopathiae with the intent of back-passaging any recovered organisms into subsequent replicates. No organism was recovered from nasal swabs in the first vaccination replicate. A second replicate including 10 pigs was initiated and followed in an identical manner to that described above. Again, no E. rhusiopathiae was recovered from any pigs. No pigs in either replicate showed any signs of clinical swine erysipelas. The live attenuated E. rhusiopathiae strain evaluated in this study did not appear to become persistently established in pigs post-vaccination, did not cause any local or systemic signs consistent with swine erysipelas, and was therefore unlikely to revert to a virulent state when used in a field setting.