Lawsonia intracellularis : utvärdering av provtagning med tops : utvärdering av provtagningsteknik med tops vid diagnostik av Lawsonia intracellularis hos tillväxtgrisar

Sammanfattning: Lawsonia intracellularis is an important pathogen in the intestine, causing diarrhea and retarded (or poor) growth in pigs. Diagnostics is based on sampling of small amounts of faeces. Several publicated scientific papers mention the use of faecal swabs as sampling material for diagnosis in experiments and in prevalence studies. Therefore the need of an evaluation of this sampling technique is urgent since, to our knowledge, this has not previously been done. Here reported work compare the use of rectal swabs for feacal sampling, with sampling and analysis of 0.1-0.2 gram of faeces. The studie included twelve herds with a case history of earlier or ongoing problems with diarrhoea where Lawsonia intracellularis could be suspected as the causative agent. A total of 120 growing pigs where examined. This work aims to more precisely define the sensibility of these sampling methods. Material collected with rectal swabs and prepared by boiling lysate where compared with faeces prepared by boiling lysate or a commercial sampling preparation method (QIAgen). The results of the PCR analysis show that swabs is less suitable for the use in diagnosis in individuals, or prevalence studies with sampling from animals without symptoms. If the swab is used at the right time, and on several animals in the same outbreak, with the clinic suspicion of Lawsonia intracellularis, the sampling technique can be used with greater accuracy to diagnose the bacteria.