PigStick - Diagnostic of bacterial-caused lameness in pigs

Lameness is a type of arthritis that makes pigs not being able of standing up short after infection. Since arthritis can be caused by different bacteria or even not having a bacterial cause, a correct diagnosis of bacterial-caused lameness is important for further treatment, such as using or not antibiotics and, in a positive case, which antibiotics work best or the type of infection. The PigStick project has made significant progress in the development of a multiplex PCR method for diagnosing bacterial-caused lameness in pigs. Key milestones, including the validation of the qPCR method and identification of bacterial antigens, have been successfully achieved. Intellectual property protection is in place for the methods and kits, and business development efforts are underway to ensure that the technology is commercialized effectively.

The PigStick project has made significant progress in the development of a multiplex PCR method for diagnosing bacterial-caused lameness in pigs. Key milestones, including the validation of the qPCR method and identification of bacterial antigens, have been successfully achieved. Intellectual property protection is in place for the methods and kits, and business development efforts are underway to ensure that the technology is commercialized effectively. We have applied for Verification project in which the main objective is introducing a Norwegian market for rapid and effective diagnosis of swine bacterial lameness, by creating the possibility to offer accredited lab tests and by creating an LFA-based rapid test, something that would greatly benefit the swine production firstly in Norway, but also in the rest of Scandinavia and Europe. The latter will bring the diagnostic tests directly to the farmers, so they would not need to call in a veterinarian every time bacterial lameness is suspected-