PASTEURELLA-MULTOCIDA - OROPHARYNGEAL CARRIAGE AND ANTIBODY-RESPONSE IN BREEDERS

The presence of Pasteurella multocida in the oropharynx of 58 pig, cat tle or rabbit breeders whose livestock had suffered from pasteurellosi s was investigated using a selective medium. Blood samples for serolog ical studies were collected at the same moment. Nineteen breeders were found to host one P multocida subsp multocida strain. Oropharyngeal c arriage of P multocida was found to be more frequent in pig breeders ( 42% of individuals) than in cattle (10%) or rabbit (0%) breeders. Geno mic polymorphism among 10 D2 strains was found by restriction endonucl ease analysis using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (REA-PFGE). Antib odies to P multocida were found in the sera of 32 of these 58 breeders , whereas only 2 of the 70 controls had antibodies. These results, rec orded from healthy individuals, show that P multocida, acting as an op portunistic bacterium, may be responsible for occupational diseases. N evertheless, the strong prevalence of specific antibodies makes the pr esence of antibodies in the sera of these breeders an insufficient ind ication of a current patent infection.