Evidence of circulation of an epidemic strain of Pasteurella multocida in Jiangsu, China by multi-locus sequence typing (MLST).

Pasteurella multocida, the causative agent of fowl cholera, is a serious threat to poultry farming. In this study, we isolated and identified 40 P. multocida strains in fowl cholera outbreaks in Jiangsu province, China. The identified P. multocida was further characterized using multi-locus sequence typing (MLST). All of the 40 P. multocida strains studied are genetically identical and belong to the ST129 sequence type based on seven MLST loci. Our study provides evidence of a circulating epidemic strain of P. multocida in Jiangsu, China.