Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Detecting Leishmania infantum DNA in dog saliva by PCR
By Cantos-Barreda, Ana et al.·Published in Comparative immunology, microbiology and infectious diseases·2020·Department of Animal Health, Spain·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Detection of Leishmania infantum DNA by real-time PCR in saliva of dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs infected with Leishmania infantum, a parasite that can cause serious health issues, had their saliva tested to see if the parasite's DNA could be detected. The tests showed that while it was harder to find the DNA in saliva during the early stages of infection, by 47 weeks, saliva samples were just as effective as bone marrow samples for detection. This means that saliva could be a useful tool for diagnosing this infection in dogs, although it may not be as reliable early on.
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Abstract
This study developed a real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay to detect L. infantum kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) in canine saliva. The qPCR showed an efficiency of 93.8%, a coefficient of correlation of 0.996 and a detection limit of 0.5 fg/reaction (0.005 parasites), although it detected until 0.25 fg/reaction (0.0025 parasites). When samples from 12 dogs experimentally infected with L. infantum were collected, L. infantum kDNA was detected at 16-weeks post-infection (wpi) in 41.7% and 91.7% of saliva and bone marrow samples, respectively, and at 47-wpi in 75% of both samples. L. infantum kDNA can be detected by qPCR in canine saliva, with lower sensitivity in the early stages of infection and a lower parasite load estimation compared to bone marrow. However, saliva had similar sensitivities to bone marrow in the later stages of the infection and could be used to detect L. infantum kDNA being aware of its limitations.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32942122/