Rapid virulence typing of Pasteurella multocida in sheep isolates of Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Pasteurellosis caused by Pasteurella multocida is an acute septicaemic disease characterized by high morbidity and mortality in cattle, sheep, goat and poultry resulting in severe economic losses. There are different methods of characterization of the P. multocida isolates like capsular and virulence typing. Capsular typing of isolates by PCR demonstrated 4 capsular types A(12), B(3), D(3) and F(2), respectively. A recently reported multiplex PCR based method was used to determine virulence genes, viz. tbpA, pfhA, toxA and hgbB. Among 14 virulent genes, 4 important virulence genes were detected by PCR. In the present study high prevalence of pfhA (100%), TbPA (95%) and low prevalence of hgbB (40%) and ToxA (30%) genes were found in sheep isolates. This simplified multiplex PCR method for rapid detection of 4 virulence genes may be used as epidemiological marker in P. multocida infection in different species of animals.