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The present study reports pathological conditions associated with liver fluke infestation in a Purple heron (Ardea purpurea) at Wild Animals Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre, Bengaluru. Purple herons are commonly seen in the lakes around Bengaluru and feed on the fish, snails and other fauna. One Purple heron was rescued and housed at Wild Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre at Bannerghatta Biological Park. After death, the Purple heron was submitted to Wild Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory for necropsy and systematically examined. Faecal samples were collected and examined; where golden yellow colored eggs of Fasciola sp. were found. On gross examination, liver was found to be enlarged with whitish necrotic spots on the surface. Kidneys were pale with enlarged ureters. Histopathologically, kidney revealed diffuse degeneration of tubular structures and accumulation of uric acid crystals in the tubules. Liver showed proliferation of bile ducts along with degenerating flukes, areas of ossification, desquamation of epithelium and periductular fibrous tissue proliferation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Classical swine fever (CSF) is an economically devastating disease of pigs. Instrumental to the control of CSF is a wellcharacterized sensitive assay that can deliver a rapid and accurate diagnosis before the onset of clinical signs. With this objective, a real-time fluorogenic-probe hydrolysis (TaqMan) reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay was developed for rapid and specific detection of classical swine fever virus (CSFV) and applied on samples derived from infected slaughtered pigs. A pair of PCR primers targeting 5'-non-coding region (CSFL1 and CSFR1) in conjunction with a CSFV-specific fluorogenic probe (CSFP1) was designed and assessed in real-time PCR. During PCR, when the target of interest was present, the CSFV specific FAM-labeled TaqMan probe annealed to the amplicon between the forward and reverse primers and was subsequently cleaved via the 5'-3' exonuclease activity of the DNA polymerase resulting in the release of the fluorescent reporter dye. This assay was found to be rapid and strain-specific for CSFV detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work was carried out to study the diagnostic potential of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR) in detection of classical swine fever vims (CSFV) infection in slaughtered pigs of Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh during 2005. A total of 1120 pigs were examined for CSF suggestive pathological lesions and tissue samples were tested for CSFV genome by RT-PCR. Out of 1120 cases examined, 110 (9.82%) showed lesions suggestive for CSF. Based on pathological findings, 58.18% (64/110) were categorized as acute, 16.36% (18/110) as chronic and 25.45% (28/110) as inapparent form of CSF. Based on RT-PCR targeting 5'NTR and E2/NS2 region, the prevalence of CSF was found to be 4.82% (54/1120) and 3.83% (43/1120), respectively. RT-PCR thus ensures a sensitive and specific detection of CSFV and hence can be considered as a screening method of choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was made to find out the etiological agent involved in piglet diarrhoea during 2007- 2009 in and around Bareilly. Group A rotavirus (GARV) was found as the main agent using various methods applied to intestinal and fecal samples. Out of 199 necropsied intestinal samples, none was positive in agarose gel electrophoresis, 5 (2.51%) were positive in double antibody sandwich ELISA (DAS-ELISA), 5 (2.51%) in RT-PCR and 18 (9.04%) in real-time RT PCR. Out of 96 fecal samples, 8 (8.33%) were positive in agarose gel electrophoresis, 11 (11.45%) in DAS-ELISA, 16 (16.66%) in RTPCR and 23 (23.95%) were found positive in real-time RT PCR. Thus, it was found that real-time RT PCR, RT-PCR, ELISA and agarose gel electrophoresis have a descending order of sensitivity for detection of rotavirus as has already been reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]