Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae is the etiological agent of porcine contagious
pleuropneumonia, which causes important worldwide economic losses in the swine
industry. Fifteen serotypes of A. pleuropneumoniae have been described
based on capsular antigens and two biotypes have been described based on
nicotinamide adenosine dinocleotide (NAD) requeriments. A.
pleuropneumoniae has traditionally been
considered an obligate pathogen of pigs. However the presence of A.
pleuropneumoniae in the environment has yet to be thoroughly investigated. Here was detected A.
pleuropneumoniae, found in biofilms isolated from drinking water and
directly in the drinkers of swine farms. Samples of drinking water were taken directly from the watering places in the swine farm. A. pleuropneumoniae detection was performed by PCR analysis using primers again apxIV toxin gene. A total of 14 farms and 84 drinking water samples were obtained.
Detection of A. pleuropneumoniae in drinking water was achieved in 5 farms in a first general screening;
and from 3 of them were able to obtain 20 positives samples. Also, in these samples were
detected for 16S rDNA Stenotrophomonas
maltophilia, Acinetobacter schindleri and Escherichia coli. All samples had the ability
to form biofilms in vitro and A. pleuropneumoniae biofilm formation
was observed in vivo by
FISH assay with others bacteria. In conclusion, our data
suggest that this A. pleuropneumoniae has the ability to survive in
aquatic environments using biofilms to survive outside its host, and could be surviving in association with other bacteria in
a multi-species biofilm.