Usefulness of PCR/RFLP and ERIC PCR techniques for epidemiological study of Haemophilus parasuis infections in pigs.

Haemophilus parasuis belongs to opportunistic microorganisms of undefined virulence. The purpose of the studies was to compare suitability of PCR/RFLP in our modification and ERIC PCR for epidemiological study of domestic strains of H. parasuis. The results were evaluated taking into account two different aspects: suitability of the tests for isolating the highest possible number of clone groups and subjective evaluation of the method judged with respect to the following criteria: difficulty, availability of equipment and reagents as well as time and cost of the study. The results obtained in the present study show that the two methods used for typing of H. parasuis had high discriminatory power. Taking into account this parameter it can be concluded that ERIC PCR is more suitable than PCR/RFLP. This justifies the use of ERIC PCR for routine epidemiological analyses of mentioned pathogen. Taking into account the complexity of method used, ERIC-PCR based on random amplification of DNA, proved to be comparable to PCR/RFLP. The last mentioned technique is relatively less expensive and labour-consuming, especially when diagnostic PCR method is used for the epidemiological studies.