Rapid detection of Brachyspira hyodysenteriae in swine intestinal specimens by PCR

Swine dysentery caused by Brachyspira hyodysenteriae, an anaerobic, beta-hemolytic spirochete, is a severe mucohemorrhahic diarrheal disease that primarily affects pigs during the growing and finishing period. The current standard laboratory procedure to culture and identify B hyodysenteriae takes 3 to 7 days. This report present a rapid PCR for detection B hyodysenteriae in a single reaction using DNA from swine intestinal samples. The PCR produced a specific 421bp PCR product with template DNA purified from B hyodysenteriae, and the accuracy for detection of B hyodysenteriae by PCR results compared with those of conventional method was 100% in intestinal specimens. Nonspecific bands were not detected with B innocens, a nonpathogenic common inhabitant spirochete, including other enteric bacterial organisms. This procedure could detect as little as 50 pg of template DNA for B hyodysenteriae.