Pigs, turkeys and laying hens are most commonly affected, but cases have been reported in other mammals, birds, fish, and reptiles.

A few years later the bacterium was recognised as the cause of erysipelas in pigs and in 1884 the organism was first established as a human pathogen.

[5] Erysipeloid is transmitted by several animals, particularly pigs, in which the disease (very common in the past) has several names (swine erysipelas in English, rouget du porc in French and mal rossino in Italian).

Other animals that can transmit the infection are sheep, rabbits, chickens, turkeys, ducks, emus, scorpion fish, and lobsters.

Erysipeloid is an occupational disease, mainly found in animal breeders, veterinarians, slaughterhouse workers, furriers, butchers, fishermen, fishmongers, housewives, cooks, and grocers.

[5] The disease is of economic importance to the pig industries of North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

The disease is characterized clinically by an erythematous oedema, with well-defined and raised borders, usually localized to the back of one hand and/or fingers.

The chronic form is mostly characterised by arthritis but sudden deaths, due to valvular lesions in the heart, may occur.

[9] Signs seen during an outbreak of erysipelas in a laying hen flock include sudden onset of high mortality and egg production losses.

Laboratory smears show Gram-positive rods (though Gram stain has low sensitivity for this microbe).

Hydrogen sulfide H2S is produced by 95% of strains of Erysipelothrix species as demonstrated on triple sugar iron (TSI) agar.

E. rhusiopathiae can be differentiated from other Gram-positive bacilli, in particular, from Arcanobacterium (Corynebacterium) pyogenes and Arcanobacterium (Corynebacterium) haemolyticum, which are hemolytic on blood agar and do not produce hydrogen sulfide in TSI agar slants, and from Listeria monocytogenes, which is catalase positive, motile, and sensitive to neomycin.

It is a commercial strip system based on a number of biochemical reactions for the identification of coryneform bacteria and related genera, including E. rhusiopathiae.

The system permits reliable and rapid identification of bacteria and has been considered to be a good alternative to traditional biochemical methods.

E. rhusiopathiae is sensitive in vitro and in vivo mainly to penicillins, but also to cephalosporins (cefotaxime, ceftriaxone), tetracyclines (chlortetracycline, oxytetracycline), quinolones (ciprofloxacin, pefloxacin), clindamycin, erythromycin, imipenem, and piperacillin.

It is resistant to vancomycin, chloramphenicol, daptomycin, gentamicin, netilmicin, polymyxin B, streptomycin, teicoplanin, tetracycline, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole.