Background Ovine footrot is a contagious disease with world-wide event in sheep. TaqMan centered real-time PCR assay focusing on the 16S rRNA gene was designed. The inclusivity and exclusivity (specificity) from the assay was examined using 55 bacterial and two fungal strains. To judge the level of sensitivity and harmonisation SGX-145 of outcomes between different laboratories aliquots of an individual DNA preparation had been analysed at three Scandinavian laboratories. The formulated real-time PCR assay was in comparison to culturing by analysing 126 examples and to a FLJ34064 typical PCR technique by analysing 224 examples. An array of PCR-products was cloned and sequenced to be able to verify that that they had been determined properly. Results The developed assay had a detection limit of 3.9 fg of D. nodosus genomic DNA. This result was obtained at all three laboratories and corresponds to approximately three copies of the D. nodosus genome per reaction. The assay showed 100% inclusivity and 100% exclusivity for the strains tested. The real-time PCR assay found 54.8% more positive samples than by culturing and 8% more than conventional PCR. Conclusions The developed real-time PCR assay has good specificity and sensitivity for detection of D. nodosus and the results are easy to interpret. The method is less time-consuming than either culturing or regular PCR. History Footrot SGX-145 can be a contagious bacterial disease that impacts your toes of sheep and it’s been reported in lots of countries [1]. The fastidious and anaerobic bacterium Dichelobacter nodosus may be the primary causative agent of ovine footrot [2]. In its mildest type footrot manifests itself as hook inflammation from the interdigital pores and skin of sheep however the disease could also improvement to serious necrotic separation from the claw capsule from underlying tissues. Severity of the disease depends on the breed of sheep SGX-145 climatic conditions management factors and virulence of the infecting D. nodosus strain. Ovine footrot was first diagnosed in Sweden in 2004 [3] and in 2008 it was detected for the first time in 60 years in Norway [4]. In 2009 2009 the disease was diagnosed in Denmark by culture and PCR [5] however a report on clinical disease among Danish sheep was published in 1988 [6]. The emergence of ovine footrot is a SGX-145 challenge for the diagnostic laboratories and for the sheep industries in all three Scandinavian countries. Clinical examination of sheep feet can be fundamental to analysis of footrot but recognition of D. nodosus also needs to become utilized to verify the analysis. The current presence of the normal Gram-negative rods in lesion materials could be confirmed by microscopy PCR or culturing. Cultivation of the bacterium is definitely time consuming and laborious and it is an advantage to also use PCR-based detection of D. nodosus. A SGX-145 PCR method for specific detection of D. nodosus was developed in 1993 by La Fontaine et al. [7] and in 2005 the method was improved by Moore et al. [8] for detection of D. nodosus from medical swabs. Previously the PCR protocol published by Moore et al. [8] was utilized at our institutes but there have been problems with nonspecific amplicons and faint rings of the right item size which produced interpretation difficult. Furthermore conventional PCR needs agarose gel electrophoresis for id from the PCR items rendering it inconvenient for the evaluation of a large number of samples. A faster and more interpreted method such as for example real-time PCR was desirable quickly. The purpose of this research was to build up a TaqMan-based real-time PCR assay for recognition of D. nodosus and to compare its performance with culturing and with conventional PCR. Another goal was to compare the sensitivity of the developed real-time PCR assay between the three laboratories participating in this research since it can be advantageous to have the ability to utilize the same recognition method. The real-time PCR assay was developed in collaboration between the National Veterinary Institute (SVA) the Norwegian Veterinary Institute (NVI) and the National Veterinary Institute in Denmark (DTU-VET). Its specificity (inclusivity/exclusivity) was tested at SVA and its sensitivity was tested and compared at all three laboratories. The SVA compared the real-time PCR assay with culturing for 126 Swedish sheep and the NVI likened it with regular PCR for 224 Norwegian sheep..