<i>Streptococcus gallolyticus</i> and Bacterial Endocarditis in Swine, United States, 2015–2020
Panchan Sitthicharoenchai, Eric Burrough, Bailey Arruda, Orhan Şahin, Jessica Santos Streauslin, Drew R. Magstadt, Pablo Piñeyro, Kent Schwartz, Michael C. Rahe
Abstract
B acterial endocarditis appears as the distinctive macroscopic lesions of vegetative valvular endocarditis (VVE). Among humans, one of the main causes of infective endocarditis is Streptococcus gallolyticus (formerly Streptococcus bovis), which reportedly causes 2%-10% of cases (1). Despite a lack of reports of S. gallolyticus pathogenicity in swine, this bacterium is considered to be part of the porcine enteric microbiome (2). The classic causes of swine VVE include Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, Streptococcus suis, and Trueperella pyogenes (3,4); however, knowledge of bacteria associated with VVE in swine is limited. To evaluate trends in bacteria isolated from swine with VVE, we retrospectively analyzed cases submitted to the Iowa State