Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
PCR versus blood culture to detect sepsis bacteria in dogs
By Heilmann, Romy M et al.·Published in Veterinary journal (London, England : 1997)·2013·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Comparison of PCR and conventional blood culture to analyze blood from dogs with suspected sepsis.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of six dogs suspected of having sepsis (a serious infection) was tested to see if a new blood test method called PCR could detect bacteria better than the traditional blood culture method. While one dog with suspected sepsis had a positive blood culture, all tests using PCR came back negative for both sick and healthy dogs. This study suggests that the PCR method may not be effective for diagnosing bacterial infections in dogs with suspected sepsis.
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Abstract
Sepsis carries a poor prognosis in critically ill dogs. PCR-based diagnostics could be more sensitive for detecting bacteremia than conventional blood culture, allowing earlier initiation of appropriate therapy. Molecular techniques have been considered as ancillary tools for detecting bacteremia and identifying pathogens in humans and in dogs with bacterial endocarditis. This study compared PCR analysis and blood culture for detecting bacteremia in six dogs with suspected sepsis and six healthy control dogs. One blood culture from a dog with suspected sepsis was positive but none from the healthy controls. PCR was negative for extracts from all dogs. This pilot study does not support the hypothesis that culture-independent PCR-based techniques used directly on small samples of blood are useful for diagnosing bacteremia in dogs with suspected sepsis.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24215778/