COMPARISON OF CHLAMYDIA-PSITTACI FROM CATS WITH UPPER RESPIRATORY-TRACT DISEASE BY POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION ANALYSIS OF THE OMPA GENE

Conjunctival swabs were taken from 168 cats with clinical signs of acu te or chronic upper respiratory tract disease and tested for Chlamydia psittaci by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify the ompA g ene coding region, Twenty-two (13 per cent) were positive for C psitta ci, The PCR products from positive samples were subjected to restricti on endonuclease analysis with the restriction enzymes Alu I and Mse I, The fragments of DNA were detected on silver-stained polyacrylamide g els and the results were compared,vith the results obtained from chlam ydial isolates from cats in Japan, France, the USA and the UK, All the strains had identical restriction patterns, When PCR is used as an ep idemiological tool, feline chlamydial strains worldwide appear very si milar.