Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Detecting Spirocerca lupi in dog poop with new PCR tests
By Rojas, Alicia et al.·Published in Parasites & vectors·2017·Koret School of Veterinary Medicine·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Detection and quantification of Spirocerca lupi by HRM qPCR in fecal samples from dogs with spirocercosis.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A dog with a serious condition called spirocercosis, caused by a parasite known as Spirocerca lupi, was tested to find out how to better detect this infection. Researchers developed new tests that could identify the parasite's eggs in feces more accurately than previous methods. They found that the new tests could detect very low levels of the eggs and were more reliable than older techniques. This means that if your dog is diagnosed with spirocercosis, these new tests could help your vet monitor the infection and treatment more effectively.
People also search for: dog spirocercosis symptoms · how to test for Spirocerca lupi in dogs · dog fecal test for parasites
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Spirocerca lupi, the dog oesophageal nematode, causes a potentially fatal disease in domestic dogs, and is currently clinically diagnosed by coproscopy and oesophagoscopy. To date, a single molecular method, a semi-nested PCR, targeting the cox1 gene, has been developed to aid in the diagnosis of spirocercosis. The present study describes three novel high-resolution melt (HRM) quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays targeting fragments of the ITS1, 18S and cytb loci of S. lupi. The performance of these molecular assays in feces was compared to fecal flotation and to the previously described cox1 gene semi-nested PCR in 18 fecal samples from dogs with clinical oesophageal spirocercosis diagnosed by oesophagoscopy. RESULTS: The HRM qPCR for ITS1 and 18S were both able to detect 0.2 S. lupi eggs per gram (epg), while the HRM qPCR for the cytb and the semi-nested PCR for the cox1 detected 6 epg and 526 epg, respectively. Spirocerca lupi was detected in 61.1%, 44.4%, 27.8%, 11.1% and 5.6% of the fecal samples of dogs diagnosed with spirocercosis by using the ITS1 and 18S HRM qPCR assays, fecal flotation, cytb HRM qPCR and cox1 semi-nested PCR, respectively. All dogs positive by fecal flotation were also positive by ITS1 and 18S HRM qPCRs. Quantification of S. lupi eggs was successfully achieved in the HRM qPCRs and compared to the fecal flotation with no significant difference in the calculated concentrations between the HRM qPCRs that detected the 18S and ITS1 loci and the fecal flotation. The HRM qPCR for the 18S cross-amplified DNA from Toxocara canis and Toxascaris leonina. In contrast, the HRM qPCR for ITS1 did not cross-amplify DNA from other canine gastrointestinal parasites. CONCLUSIONS: This study presents two new molecular assays with significantly increased sensitivity for confirming and quantifying fecal S. lupi eggs. Of these, the HRM qPCR for ITS1 showed the best performance in terms of the limit of detection and absence of cross-amplification with other parasites. These assays will be useful in detecting infection and for follow-up during therapy.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28927435/