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  • Gram positive cocci
  • May infect joints of sheep or become complication of tick-borne fever, also in pig arthritis


Staphylococcus hyicus

  • Pigs - greasy pig disease
  • Exudative epidermitis due to Staphylococcus hyicus is a worldwide problem in piglets.
  • The organism can often be isolated from the mucosa and skin of healthy adult pigs, and can persist in the environment for long periods.
  • Disease occurs only in young piglets up to about 35 days of age.
  • Passive transfer of antibodies from immune sows and development of immunity with age appear to adequately protect against disease.
  • Piglets from non-immune sows are predisposed.
  • Skin trauma, such as due to fighting, allowing entry of infective organisms is also considered a risk factor in this disease.

Pathology

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Pathogenesis

  • Staphylococcus hyicus produces an exfoliative toxin of approximately 30 kDa that causes separation of cells in the upper stratum spinosum resulting in rapid intraepidermal spread of organisms.
  • Death of affected piglets is common and is attributed to dehydration, septicemia, or both.
  • This porcine disorder has been likened to “scalded skin syndrome” in human neonates, due to skin infection by exfoliative toxin-producing Staphylococcus aureus.

Differential diagnosis

  • mange (Sarcoptes scabiei var. suis)
  • swine parakeratosis (zinc and essential fatty acid deficiency)
  • porcine juvenile pustular psoriasiform dermatitis (collarettes or rings typically on the ventrum of young pigs)
  • dermatosis vegetans (associated with a giant cell pneumonia)
  • dermatophytosis (most commonly Microsporum nanum)


Staphylococcus aureus