Genetic Test Pinpoints New Swine In Iowa and Australia, pig
producers have been talking about a new bacterium that causes
watery diarrhea in pigs. Although the diarrhea it produces
doesn't cause bloody stools like swine dysentery does, it still
weakens the pigs, slows their growth, and does a number on
producers potential profits. Until now, this bacterium
resembling Serpulina hyodysenteriae--the causative agent of
swine dysentery--hasn't had a name. Agricultural Research
Service microbiologists Neil S. Jensen and Thad B. Stanton
changed that when they cracked its genetic code and developed a
DNA-based test to identify it. Naming bacteria isn't new to
Jensen and Stanton. They changed the name of Treponema
hyodysenteriae to Serpulina hyodysenteriae in 1994, to more
accurately describe that serpent-shaped bacterium. More
recently, the use of electronic mail opened up a global
laboratory for Jensen and Stanton. No longer confined to their
lab module at ARS National Animal Disease Center (NADC) in Ames,
Iowa, the