BACKGROUND Strangles is a contagious equine-specific disease caused by Streptococcus equi subsp. equi. Unfortunately, detection of S. equi can fail in up to 40% of horses with strangles. Whereas recent molecular biologic methods and sampling techniques have improved recovery of S. equi optimal sampling methods and laboratory analyses remain ill-defined. OBJECTIVES To determine the yield of S....

Streptococci pathogenic for the horse include S. equi (S. equi subsp. equi), S. zooepidemicus (S. equi subsp. zooepidemicus), S. dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis and S. pneumoniae capsule Type III. S. equi is a clonal descendent or biovar of an ancestral S. zooepidemicus strain with which it shares greater than 98% DNA homology and therefore expresses many of the same proteins and virulence fact...

Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus is a known zoonotic pathogen. In this public health investigation conducted in Virginia, USA, in 2013, we identified a probable family cluster of S. zooepidemicus cases linked epidemiologically and genetically to infected guinea pigs. S. zooepidemicus infections should be considered in patients who have severe clinical illness and report guinea pig exposure.