QIAGEN Inc, is pleased to showcase, at the upcoming 2015 International Production & Processing Expo, our newly approved bactotype Mycoplasma Mg/Ms PCR assay. The product, which received U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP) approval in mid-July of 2014, simultaneously detects the DNA of two pathogens that cause respiratory disease in chickens, turkeys and other poultry. The test runs on QIAsymphony RGQ as well as on the QIAcube HT, QIAgility and RGQ and can now be used by approved laboratories to certify poultry flocks as disease-free. This product is the only assay on the North American market that detects both pathogens in parallel, which saves processing time and money while maintaining excellent sensitivity and specificity. The assay is the first of its kind and has the potential to significantly improve quality and cost effectiveness in poultry industries.

Mycoplasma gallisepticum (Mg) and Mycoplasma synoviae (Ms) are a great concern to U.S. poultry farmers. Mg is the most pathogenic avian mycoplasma – a kind of bacteria that lacks a cell wall and, as a result, is unaffected by common antibiotics like penicillin. It causes chronic respiratory disease in chickens and infectious sinusitis, and is one of the most significant reasons for large financial losses in commercial poultry operations. Mg has an estimated $140-million impact on chicken egg production in the United States each year alone. The second pathogen detected by QIAGEN’s bactotype Mycoplasma Mg/Ms PCR Kit, Ms, causes infection of the respiratory tract, particularly in laying flocks with birds of different ages.

The NPIP was established in the early 1930s to provide a program through which the industry, and state and federal governments could cooperate to bring new diagnostics like the recently approved QIAGEN assay to improve poultry and poultry products throughout the United States. The program authorizes diagnostic laboratories across the country, including 80 labs that provide Mg and Ms testing, to certify poultry flocks as disease-free.

Please stop by QIAGEN’s booth number A412 or attend our Farm to Fork Customer Appreciation Event on January 29, 2014 from 5:00-6:30pm EST at Georgia World Congress Center, Room A410 to learn more about this and other QIAGEN animal health and food safety products.