IN VITRO METHOD FOR MONITORING THE PATHOGEN LOAD IN AN ANIMAL POPULATION

摘要

The present invention pertains to an in vitro method for monitoring the load of at least one pathogen in an avian population, the method comprising the following steps: collecting and pooling excremental sample material deriving from an avian population; homogenizing the pooled sample material obtained in step (a); diluting and optionally stabilizing the pooled sample material obtained in step (b) with aqueous buffer solution; lysing the cell material contained in the diluted sample material obtained in step (c); isolating nucleic acid material from the lysed sample material of step (d); detecting and quantifying at least one pathogen-specific target gene, or functional fragment thereof, contained in the nucleic acid isolate obtained in step (e); repeating steps (a) to (f) at consecutive points in time; and observing alterations in amount of the at least one pathogen specific target gene over time.