Streptococcus zooepidemicus – the forgotten bad guy?

Streptococcus zooepidemicus is often isolated from the respiratory tracts of healthy horses, suggesting that this bacterium is simply a harmless commensal. However, S. zooepidemicus is a genetically diverse pathogen with the potential to cause an array of diseases in a wide range of different animal species, including cattle [1], sheep [2], goats [2], pigs [3], dogs [4] and humans [5,6]. The presence of S. zooepidemicus in horses is associated with respiratory disease [7,8], uterine infections [9,10] and ulcerative keratitis [11]. Furthermore, a biovar of S. zooepidemicus, S. equi, is the causative agent of strangles, one of the most frequently identified infectious diseases of horses worldwide [12] ...