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Introduction: In recent years, Livestock Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) are found frequently in pigs. The colonization of the care staff with LA-MRSA is strongly associated with the intensity and duration of animal contact and LA-MRSA herd prevalence. In human medicine, staphylococcal infections have been controlled successfully by topical or systemic administration of Staphylococcus - associated bacteriophages. Therefore, the present study investigated the effect of a bacteriophage cocktail on skin and mucosal colonization of pigs with MRSA in a pig farm with high MRSA prevalence. In a first experiment, the sows were washed with a bacteriophage cocktail and nose, mouth and vagina were rinsed before the sows were admitted to the farrowing house. Then, 10 ml of the bacteriophage cocktail was administered daily to the sows over the feed until weaning. The suckling piglets were sprayed and sampled twice a week during the suckling period and treated with the bacteriophage cocktail over the feed during the weaning period. In further experiments, the weaning room was nebulized three times a day with a bacteriophage cocktail and different concentrations of bacteriophages were added to the drinking water via Dosatron®. None of the experiments, however, showed an eradication of MRSA neither in nose nor in feces.

Introduction: European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) have a high exposure to various ticks, which could transmit pathogens with direct health significance for the host and may have zoonotic potential. Tick-borne meningoencephalitis (FSME) is an important tick-borne disease in Switzerland, caused by the tick-borne encephalitis virus. About its occurrence in the European hedgehog population is little known. The present study examined various organs, blood and ticks of 65 European hedgehogs to obtain data of FSME virus presence in this species in Switzerland. Real-time RT-PCR from the lungs, liver, spleen and kidney of 56 hedgehogs and of 114 infesting ticks (Ixodes hexagonus or Ixodes ricinus) were used for the detection of viral RNA. In addition, 19 blood samples were tested for antibodies against FSME by ELISA. FSME virus antibodies were detected for the first time in the serum of a European hedgehog. Lung and spleen tissue samples of the same animal tested also weak virus positive on RT-PCR. Clinically, the hedgehog showed neurological symptoms, although these symptoms could have originated from an other diseases. No viral RNA was detected in any of the ticks. This study could not confirm if the meningoencephalitis in the hedgehog was triggered by the FSME viral infection. Nevertheless, the simultaneous detection of antibodies and virus RNA in the same animal makes the European hedgehog a competent host of the tick-borne encephalitis virus and leads to the assumption that this species can act as a reservoir.