Comparative value of microscopy, serology and real time PCR in the diagnosis of asymptomatic canine leishmania infantum infection
- Risueño Iranzo, José
- Bermejo, E.
- Muñoz García, Claudia Irais Rais
- Chitimia, I.
- Río Alonso, Laura del
- García Martínez, Juan Diego
- Goyena Salgado, María Elena
- Fisa, R.
- Riera, C.
- Jiménez Montalbán, Pedro Javier
- Martínez Ramírez, A.
- Meseguer Meseguer, J.M.
- Murcia, L.
- Segovia Hernández, Manuel
- Berriatua Fernández de Larrea, Eduardo
ISSN: 0213-5434, 1989-1784
Year of publication: 2012
Issue: 28
Pages: 35-43
Type: Article
More publications in: Anales de veterinaria de Murcia
Abstract
The sensitivity (SE) of cytological examination of spleen and lymphnode smears by optical microscopy (OM), antibody-ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays) and real-time (rt) PCR (polymerase chain reaction), for diagnosing asymptomatic canine Leishmania infantum infection was investigated in 110 apparently healthy dogs from southeast Spain. The percentage of OM, ELISA and rtPCR positive dogs were 2% (2/110), 27% (26/97) y 67% (39/58), respectively, although the percentage of rtPCR-positive dogs were 35-41% in individual tissues and 9% in blood. The estimated SE (95% confidence interval) of OM relative to the rtPCR and ELISA tests was 5% (0-12) and 8% (0-18), respectively. Results confirm that most apparently healthy dogs from L. infantum endemic areas are infected, that approximately only one third of these infected dogs develop antibodies and that very few have parasite loads that are high enough to allow detection by OM. As a result, the degree of agreement between rtPCR, ELISA and OM for L. infantum diagnosis in subclinnically infected dogs is low.