@article{Santos_Carvalho_Bezerra_Wenceslau_Albuquerque_Dias_2011, title={MOLECULAR DIAGNOSIS OF LEPTOSPIROSIS IN PIGS SLAUGHTERED ILLEGALLY IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF ITABUNA, BA}, volume={33}, url={https://bjvm.org.br/BJVM/article/view/817}, abstractNote={<p>ABSTRACT. Santos T.N., Carvalho F.S., Bezerra R.A., Wenceslau A.A., Albuquerque G.R. & Costa-Dias R. [Molecular diagnosis of Leptospirosis in pigs slaughtered illegally in the Municipality of Itabuna, BA]. Diagnóstico molecular de leptospirose em suínos abatidos clandestinamente no município de Itabuna-BA. Revista Brasileira de Medicina Veterinária, 33(4):195-199, 2011. Departamento de Ciências Agrárias e Ambientais, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, BA 415 km 16, Salobrinho, Ilhéus, BA 45662-000, Brasil. E-mail: roberta_costa_dias@hotmail.com Leptospirosis is a disease that affects wild animals, domestic and synanthropic throughout the country and causing social and economic problems. The genus Leptospira is divided into two major groups as comprising saprophytic species Leptospira biflexa and pathogenic as L. interrogans. The basic taxonomic unit is the serotype. Swine leptospirosis is an important source of infection for humans and other animals and contacts swine leptospirosis diagnosis can be performed by disease epidemiology, clinical signs of the animals and confirmed by laboratory tests. The technique of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is specific, sensitive and rapid diagnosis of leptospirosis, an important diagnostic tool as well as for epidemiological investigations. The objective of this work is to analyze by PCR the presence of DNA of L. interrogans in the blood of pigs. We collected blood from 72 pigs at slaughter illegal in the Municipality of Itabuna, BA. Blood samples were between 3 and 5 mL and were stored in tubes with anticoagulant, identified and kept under refrigeration until the time of DNA extraction. After the PCR could detect the presence of DNA fragments with those found in pathogenic strains of leptospirosis, including the L. interrogans. Of the samples examined, 14 were positive, with a percentage of 19, 44% were positive.</p>}, number={4}, journal={Brazilian Journal of Veterinary Medicine}, author={Santos, Taline Novais and Carvalho, Fábio Santos and Bezerra, Rodrigo Alves and Wenceslau, Amauri Arias and Albuquerque, George Rego and Dias, Roberta Costa}, year={2011}, month={Dec.}, pages={195–199} }