Acta Veterinaria Hungarica 55 (2), pp. 219–227 (2007) DOI: 10.1556/AVet.55.2007.2.8 0236-6290/$ 20.00 ' 2007 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest PREVALENCE OF SELECTED ENTEROPATHOGENIC BACTERIA IN HUNGARIAN FINISHING PIGS I. BIKSI 1* , MÆrta LŐRINCZ 1 , BeÆta MOLN`R 1 , T. KECSKS 2 , N. TAK`CS 3 , Darja MIRT 4 , A. CIZEK 5 , Z. PEJSAK 6 , G.-P. MARTINEAU 7 , J.-L. SEVIN 8 and O. SZENCI 1 1 Diagnostic Laboratory, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Szent IstvÆn University, H-2225 llő, Hungary; 2 Nagisz ZRt., NÆdudvar, Hungary; 3 Veterinary Diagnostic Services, New Mexico State University, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA; 4 Novartis Veterina d.o.o., Ljubljana, Slovenia; 5 Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic; 6 Swine Diseases Department, National Veterinary Research Institute, Puławy, Poland; 7 Ecole Nationale VØtØrinaire de Toulouse, France; 8 Coopagri Bretagne, France (Received 10 July 2006; accepted 20 September 2006) The aim of this study was to obtain prevalence estimates about the most important enteropathogenic bacteria: Lawsonia intracellularis, Brachyspira hyodysenteriae, Brachyspira pilosicoli, Salmonella enterica and Clostridium per- fringens A and C in Hungarian farrow-to-finish pig herds. A total of 31 herds were selected, from where six pooled faecal samples, each containing three indi- vidual rectal faecal samples were collected from fattening pigs of 56 months of age. All 186 samples were examined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the presence of the pathogens mentioned above. Lawsonia intracellularis was found in 29 herds (93.55%) and in 108 samples (58.06%); B. hyodysenteriae in 14 herds (45.16%) and in 23 samples (12.37%); B. pilosicoli in 19 herds (61.29%) and in 53 samples (28.49%); S. enterica in 17 herds (54.83%) and in 40 samples (21.50%). We detected the presence of C. perfringens A in 19 herds (61.29%) and in 46 samples (24.73%), while C. perfringens C was found in 8 herds (25.81%) and in 11 samples (5.91%). All examined herds were infected with one or more of these agents. Herds with diarrhoea in the mid- to late finishing phase had almost 10 times higher prevalence of B. hyodysenteriae than herds without such a history. Key words: Lawsonia intracellularis, Brachyspira spp., Salmonella en- terica, Clostridium perfringens, prevalence, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) Enteric diseases in the fattening phase account for significant losses worldwide. The most important pathogens in this production stage are Lawsonia * Corresponding author: Imre Biksi; E-mail: biksi.imre@aotk.szie.hu; Fax: 0036 (29) 521-303