SWINE-DYSENTERY - MORE UNKNOWN THAN KNOWN

Swine dysentery (SD) is an economically important disease. It is cause d by the spirochete Serpulina hyodysenteriae. In order to minimize the economic damage of SD, several methods to control this disease are re commended. Whereas hygienic measures and use of antimicrobials are act ually practised for prevention, detection and exclusion of carriers of S. hyodysenteriae and vaccination against the disease still needs fur ther attention. The last two methods require reliable and sensitive di agnostic tests and understanding of the pathogenesis of and immune dev elopment against SD. At present the detection of all individual carrie rs of S. hyodysenteriae is not yet assured, since the tests for screen ing individual animals are not satisfactorily evaluated as far as sens itivity and/or specificity are concerned. Studies on the pathogenesis of SD have been performed to develop a vaccine. Besides hemolysin/cyto toxin production, no other virulence factors have been identified with certainty for S. hyodysenteriae. Recently however, further indication s for a role of motility in the pathogenesis of SD have been obtained. In this manuscript we summarize the most relevant recent findings.