Manouk Vrieling has been working at our institute for almost 2 years now: 'I study the interaction between bacteria and the host immune system in order to find new strategies to prevent diseases in livestock. For example, I’m working on vaccine development for Streptococcus suis. This bacterium is a common cause of serious illness such as meningitis in piglets. A vaccine would mean fewer infections, better animal welfare and less use of antibiotics.'

A newly published report by Prof. Tracy Nicholson et al of the National Animal Disease Center, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, provides a framework for future allelic replacement and/or functional genomic studies investigating genetic characteristics underlying the spectrum of disease outcomes caused by Streptococcus suis isolates.

Bordetella (B.) bronchiseptica and Streptococcus (S.) suis are major pathogens in pigs, which are frequently isolated from co-infections in the respiratory tract and contribute to the porcine respiratory disease complex (PRDC). Despite the high impact of co-infections on respiratory diseases of swine (and other hosts), very little is known about pathogen-pathogen-host interactions and the mechanisms of pathogenesis.

The Wageningen University & Research group recently published ((Ferrando et al) in Pathogens about the competence of Streptococcus suis, an important zoonotic agent and porcine pathogen, for genetic transformation with plasmid or linear DNA when cultured in active porcine and human serum.

A figure in a recent paper published by the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover based on work conducted in the PIGSs project was selected as cover page in Microorganisms, an open-access journal from MDPI. 

Over 30 presentations on Streptococcus suis GWAS studies, virulence mechanisms, next generation probiotics, viral co-infections, risk factors & disease burden during the two-day online scientific PIGSs meeting on 23-25 Febr.

On January 28^th 2021,  Carlos Neila (IRTA) gave a presentation on “Estimation of the economic cost of S. suis in Spain, Germany and the Netherlands”, work conducted in work package 5 of the PIGSs project. 

Wageningen University Research published this week an impact story on the PIGSs project: "New vaccine against Streptococcus suis in the making". 

Researchers from Wageningen Bioveterinary Research, partner in the PIGSs project, participate in a European Network of Vaccine Adjuvants (ENOVA), which brings together European experts and stakeholders working in different areas of adjuvant and vaccine research and development, including both prophylactic and therapeutic applications as well as human and veterinary vaccines.

"Preventing Streptococcus suis in pigs around the world", an impact story drafted by Wageningen University with two Principal Investigators: Prof. Jerry Wells & Dr. Astrid de Greeff