Abstract
BackgroundProgressive atrophic rhinitis (PAR) in pigs is caused by toxigenic Pasteurella multocida. In Switzerland, PAR is monitored by selective culture of nasal swabs and subsequent polymerase chain reaction (PCR) screening of bacterial colonies for the P. multocida toxA gene. A panel of 203 nasal swabs from a recent PAR outbreak were used to evaluate a novel quantitative real-time PCR for toxigenic P. multocida in porcine nasal swabs.ResultsIn comparison to the conventional PCR with a limit of detection of 100 genome equivalents per PCR reaction, the real-time PCR had a limit of detection of 10 genome equivalents. The real-time PCR detected toxA-positive P. multocida in 101 samples (49.8%), whereas the conventional PCR was less sensitive with 90 toxA-positive samples (44.3%). In comparison to the real-time PCR, 5.4% of the toxA-positive samples revealed unevaluable results by conventional PCR.ConclusionsThe approach of culture-coupled toxA PCR for the monitoring of PAR in pigs is substantially improved by a novel quantitative real-time PCR.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13028-016-0267-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Progressive atrophic rhinitis (PAR) in pigs is caused by toxigenic Pasteurella multocida which synthesize a 145-kDa toxin [1] encoded by the chromosomal toxA gene [2, 3]
Swabs are analysed by culturing the swabs on selective agar [4] and subsequent screening of bacterial colonies for toxigenic P. multocida by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) [5]
Switzerland outbreak of PAR in Swiss multiplying herds [6], nasal swabs from feeder pigs were tested for toxigenic P. multocida by the method outlined above
Summary
Progressive atrophic rhinitis (PAR) in pigs is caused by toxigenic Pasteurella multocida. Swabs are analysed by culturing the swabs on selective agar [4] and subsequent screening of bacterial colonies for toxigenic P. multocida by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) [5]. Switzerland outbreak of PAR in Swiss multiplying herds [6], nasal swabs from feeder pigs were tested for toxigenic P. multocida by the method outlined above. DNA (1 pg) from a toxA-positive and a-negative P. multocida reference strain (ATCC 12948, ATCC 43137) were used as controls in each qRT-PCR run.
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