Toward standardization of diagnostic PCR testing of fecal samples: lessons from the detection of salmonellae in pigs.

摘要

Why fecal samples? The International Organization for Standardization and the European Committee for Standardization have recently decided to include the standardization of fecal testing in their agenda. The aim is to prepare documents describing standardized protocols for the detection of epide-miologically important zoonotic agents, which can often be found in low numbers in fecal samples in food production animals. The effort is to provide standard protocols for primary samples as part of the farm-to-fork approach. Samples taken from the primary production herds have been rather neglected in the standardization efforts compared to food or clinical samples.The work will include both conventional and PCR-based methods in order to improve the detection limit, particularly in subclinically infected herds. The present review with recommendations is the first of three reviews which will pave the way for standard protocols, facilitating the comparison of epidemi-ological data and providing quantitative methods for microbiological risk assessments.