Alcohol consumption induces alcoholism and cirrhosis, and the
liver damage, in turn, influences intestinal translocation. Since the
influence of S. suis combined with alcohol on cells had not been
clarified, this study investigated the direct influence of S. suis and
alcohol on cells by using TER. Although alcohol is generally toxic to
bacteria, there are a few reports of a relationship between alcohol
consumption and the host’s susceptibility to bacteria Human alcoholics experience a higher frequency of bacterial
overgrowth than do non-alcoholics, especially among grampositive
aerobic cocci in the upper gastrointestinal tract [13].
However, the mechanisms of this bacterial growth under alcoholic
conditions are still unknown [15]. The present study investigated
the influence of alcohol on S. suis growth, and showed that S. suis,
including the gram-positive bacteria, did not suffer from growth
inhibition at less than 5% ethanol (data not shown).