Diagnosis of paratuberculosis by fecal culture followed by nested-polymerase chain reaction

Culture of clinical samples is the confirmatory test for the diagnosis of paratuberculosis but, it is time consuming due to its long incubation period, further it requires a skilled personnel to monitor the growth. Use of molecular techniques such as PCR is advantageous over the long incubation period in culturing of samples; more than eight months of incubation is needed to declare a sample to be negative.