Abstract. Mycoplasma bovis is an important bacterial pathogen in cattle, producing a variety of clinical diseases. The organism, which requires specialized culture conditions and extended incubation times to isolate and identify, is frequently associated with concurrent infection with other pathogens which can potentially be more easily identified. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR) is a valuable diagnostic technique that can rapidly identify infectious agents in clinical specimens. A real-time PCR assay was designed based on the uvrC gene to identify M. bovis in diagnostic samples. Using culture as the gold standard test, the assay performed well in a variety of diagnostic matrices. 100%]). Low numbers of other sample matrices showed good agreement between results of culture and PCR. A review of clinical cases from 2009 revealed that, in general, PCR was used much more frequently than culture and provided useful diagnostic information in conjunction with clinical signs, signalment, and gross and histopathologic lesions. Diagnostic performance of the real-time PCR assay developed as a testing method indicates that it is a rapid, accurate assay that is adaptable to a variety of PCR platforms and can provide reliable results on an array of clinical samples.

Bibersteinia trehalosi, (formally Pasteurella trehalosi and Pasteurella haemolytica complex biovar T) is a known cause of disease in ruminants worldwide. Typically, B. trehalosi is associated with pneumonia or septicemia in sheep. Although infection with B. trehalosi is rare in cattle, it is a potential agent responsible for bovine respiratory disease (BRD). Anecdotal reports of increasing prevalence of B. trehalosi in cattle with severe disease have heightened producer and veterinary awareness. Proper identification of B. trehalosias as a source of an infection is important for making treatment and prevention management decisions. Misidentification of respiratory pathogens is possible without utilization of the proper diagnostic tools. Traditionally, laboratories have relied solely on colony morphology, hemolysis patterns, and sugar fermentation to identify B. trehalosi. The aim of the study was to properly identify B. trehalosi on the basis of phenotypic and biological characterization. Additionally, evaluation of the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of B. trehalosi from bovine respiratory cases were used to determine the impact of antimicrobial resistance on pathogenicity.

Pulse field gel electrophoreSIS (PFGE) currently has been preformed on 22 Salmonella spp. isolates using a new method that distinguishes between different spec1es of Salmonella and g1ves reproducible results using Pae R7 1 enzyme. This PFGE data, when using the Pae R7 1 enzyme, was compared to the Xba 1 restriction enzyme that is used by CDC (Center for Disease Control) for Salmonella spp 1solate compansons. PFGE results were analyzed usmg cluster analys1s and results were comparable between Pae R7 1 and Xba 1 enzymes for dist1ngu1shmg differences