Acta Vet. Brno 2007, 76: 237-244
Presence and Seroprevalence of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae in Pigs in Turkey
In this study, the presence and seroprevalence of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae in pigs raised in various regions of Turkey were investigated. For this purpose, 384 lung, tonsil and blood samples were taken by random sampling during the slaughter. The pigs did not show any signs of clinical respiratory tract disorders at the time of slaughter. Organ samples were used for isolation, and specific antibodies in 384 sera samples (of which 368 belonged to animals used in organ sampling) were investigated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). For isolation, the lung and tonsil samples were inoculated onto PPLO agar plates with nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), and A. pleuropneumoniae (serotype 12) was isolated from only one of the tonsil samples. Of the 384 blood samples, 258 (67.2%) were found to be positive. 209 (54.4%) of the positive samples were determined to be group 1, and 49 (12.8%) were determined to be group 2. The effect of age and sex of the samples were found to be non-significant by statistical analysis of the ELISA data (p > 0.05). Isolation of A. pleuropneumoniae indicates the presence of the infection in Turkey for the first time and high seroprevalence supports this finding.
