Comparison of Pasteurella multocida serotyping systems.

Thirty-two type specific cultures used in four typing systems for serologically classifying Pasteurella multocida were compared as originally described for: (1) Little and Lyon's plate agglutination test; (2) Carter's indirect hemagglutination test, hyaluronidase decapsulation test, and acriflavine reaction; (3) Namioka's plate and tube agglutination tests; and (4) Heddleston's gel diffusion precipitin test. In addition, seven cultures from Robert's five passive protection groups were included. When reference cultures were examined by the typing system from which they were described, the results generally correlated with those results published. However, serotypes determined by one typing system generally did not correlate with serotypes determined by another system. Cultures of a single serotype in one system often represented more than one serotype in another system. Results indicated that cultures with one or two serotyping antigens in common may differ in other antigens. Because of the antigenic complexity of P multocida and the nature of the antigens involved in each test, a reliable correlation or equality between serotypes determined by different typing systems could not be made.