The application of PCR based methods in diagnostics of some viral infections of swine

Abstract

Viral infections of swine cause significant economic losses in swine husbandry. They manifest in death of infected animals of different ages or in decreased productivity during the manufacturing process. Having that in mind, rapid and reliable diagnostics of viral infections is crucial in the prevention of disease transmission in herds of swine. Today, virological laboratories all over the world use different diagnostic methods such as isolation of virus in cell lines, ELISA, virus neutralization test, direct and indirect immunofluorescence and hemagglutination and hemagglutination inhibition tests. Virus isolation, virus neutralization test and some other standard virological methods are time consuming and rather expensive, therefore, molecular methods such as conventional PCR, RT - PCR, real-time PCR and direct sequencing methods are applied worldwide as fast and reliable. Their application is especially necessary for the detection of viruses which cannot be identified by using standard virological methods.

Keywords

• swine
• virus
• PCR
• real-time PCR