Authors : Guadalupe Socci Escatel, Elvira Carrera Salas and Fernando Diosdado Vargas
Abstract: The ELISA test is generally used for the diagnosis of enzootic pneumonia caused by M. hyopneumoniae. This test only detects antibodies which can be found until 8 weeks after infection. The Polymerase Chain Reaction technique (PCR) has been developed in order to detect mycoplasma in vivo. It is a rapid test for diagnosis from nasal swab samples. In order to implement PCR in Mexico for the rapid detection of M. hyopneumoniae in pigs, a pure culture and two commercial vaccines were used. DNA extraction was performed with the reagent CTAB. One pair of primers that amplify a fragment of 352 bp of the 16Sr RNA gene was used for DNA amplification. The sensitivity test showed that it can detect up to 3 pg of DNA. The specificity of the technique was also demonstrated when it did not amplified DNA from M. bovis and P. multocida. The technique was tested with nasal swab samples collected from 30 pigs of 12 weeks of age from three commercial farms with antecedents of respiratory disease. In one of the farms, 40% (4/10) samples were positive in the second, 20% (2/10) and the none in the third one (0/10). It is concluded that PCR was able to detect the M. hyopneumoniae from nasal swab samples from pigs with respiratory problems and represents a valuable tool for early diagnosis which will allow better control of the disease.
Guadalupe Socci Escatel, Elvira Carrera Salas and Fernando Diosdado Vargas, 2011. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for Detection of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, Responsable of Enzootic Pneumonia in Pigs. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 10: 3065-3068.