DETECTION OF ANIMAL PATHOGENS BY USING THE POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION (PCR)

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a nucleic acid-based technique that enables the rapid and sensitive detection of specific micro-organ isms. Although this technique is widely used in veterinary research, i t has not yet found applications in routine microbiological analysis o f veterinary clinical samples. However, advances in sample preparation together with the increasing availability of specific gene sequences will probably lead to the more widespread diagnostic use of PCR in the future. PCR is likely to have a strong impact in the epidemiology, tr eatment and prevention of animal infectious diseases.