Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Blood PCR test is more accurate than serum PCR for diagnosing canine
By Keid, L B et al.·Published in The Veterinary record·2010·Departamento de Medicina Veteriná, Brazil·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Comparison of a PCR assay in whole blood and serum specimens for canine brucellosis diagnosis.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 72 dogs was tested for canine brucellosis, a serious infection caused by the bacteria Brucella canis. Researchers compared two testing methods: one using blood and the other using serum (the liquid part of blood). The blood test was much more effective, correctly identifying 97% of infected dogs, while the serum test only identified 26%. This means that if your dog is suspected of having brucellosis, a blood test is the better option for accurate diagnosis.
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Abstract
The performance of a serum PCR assay was compared with that of a blood PCR assay for the diagnosis of canine brucellosis caused by Brucella canis in 72 dogs. The dogs were classified into three groups (infected, non-infected and suspected brucellosis) according to the results of blood culture and serological tests. The sensitivities of blood PCR and serum PCR were, respectively, 97.14 per cent and 25.71 per cent. The specificities of both were 100 per cent. In the group of dogs with suspected brucellosis, three were positive by blood PCR and none was positive by serum PCR. Serum PCR showed little value for the direct diagnosis of canine brucellosis as the assay had low diagnostic sensitivity and fewer positive dogs were detected by this test than by blood culture, blood PCR, rapid slide agglutination test (RSAT) and RSAT with 2-mercaptoethanol.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20643887/