Laboratory diagnosis of bacterial infections

Abstract Molecular diagnostic techniques have evolved significantly over the past 10 years, and although veterinary medicine has been rather slow to utilise these, molecular diagnostic tests are rapidly becoming the gold standard in modern veterinary diagnostic and reference laboratories. Molecular diagnosis is highly specific, sensitive, and can rapidly diagnose many different pathogenic Phyla or different field strain variations within different species at the same time and can overcome some of the problems associated with conventional diagnostic techniques such as serology or bacterial culture. This chapter will highlight the molecular technologies available to study and diagnose the most economically important bacterial diseases in pigs and poultry.