Rapid diagnosis of goose viral infections by multiplex PCR.

Goose parvovirus (GPV), newcastle disease virus (NDV), goose herpesvirus (GHV) and goose adenovirus (GAV) are considered collectively to be four of the most important and widespread viruses of geese. Because all of these viruses cause similar pathological changes, histological differentiation among these viruses is difficult. A reliable, specific and sensitive multiplex PCR (mPCR) assay was developed for the combined detection of GPV, NDV, GHV and GAV in clinical samples of geese. Using the mPCR technique, single infections with GPV (28/76; 36.8%), NDV (9/76; 11.8%), GHV (3/76; 3.9%) and GAV (12/76; 15.8%) were identified in the samples; co-infections with GAV and either GPV or NDV (31.6%; 24/76) were also identified with this approach. The results for all of the samples tested were the same in both the uPCR and mPCR systems. The mPCR approach is considered to be useful for routine molecular diagnosis and epidemiological applications in geese.