August 19, 2009

A new company, MDT Molecular Diagnostic Testing, has been set up specifically to provide a sophisticated testing service for veterinary surgeons and the pig and poultry industries.

 

Based at Craven Arms in Shropshire, England, it uses the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method to detect DNA and RNA in bacteria and viruses from a variety of tissues.

 

MDT technical director Rob Harrison said new technology means the tests for organisms causing such diseases as salmonella, mycoplasma, coccidiosis and PRRS are quicker and more specific.

 

Most existing culture tests rely on viable bacteria and viruses to enable the target organism to be grown and identified. However, the new tests offered by MDT can detect non-viable (dead) micro-organisms from tissue, throat swabs, blood and faeces. The tests can detect and identify incredibly low numbers of viruses and bacteria which, in previous tests, may not show up at all.

 

Furthermore, these tests can distinguish between the different groups and strains of bacteria such as salmonella enteritidis and salmonella typhimurium or the EU versus the North American strain of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) in pigs.

 

In addition to greater diagnostic accuracy, another important advantage of PCR tests is that they can be completed quickly, usually between 24 and 48 hours.

 

Harrison said this can enable treatment for a disease to be started earlier, resulting in a quicker response, with a potential to save producers hundreds if not thousands of pounds, noting that test can also be conducted on breeding animals for export closer to the dispatch date.