Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Testing horse flu PCR to detect dog flu virus in samples
By Lu, Zhengchun et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation : official publication of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, Inc·2010·Department of Veterinary Science, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Diagnostic application of H3N8-specific equine influenza real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assays for the detection of Canine influenza virus in clinical specimens.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study found that specific tests designed for equine influenza can also effectively detect canine influenza virus (CIV) in dogs. The tests were able to identify the virus in samples from dogs that had previously shown symptoms of respiratory illness. This means that if your dog is coughing, has a runny nose, or shows signs of illness, these tests can help your veterinarian quickly diagnose CIV. The results suggest that using these tests can speed up the process of identifying and treating canine influenza in dogs.
People also search for: dog coughing treatment · canine influenza virus symptoms · how to test for dog flu
Abstract
The objective of the current study was to determine the capability of 3 recently described one-step TaqMan real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (real-time RT-PCR) assays targeting the nucleoprotein (NP), matrix (M), and hemagglutinin (HA) genes of H3N8 Equine influenza virus (EIV NP, EIV M, and EIV HA3 assays, respectively) to detect Canine influenza virus (CIV). The assays were initially evaluated with nucleic acid extracted from tissue culture fluid (TCF) containing the A/canine/FL/43/04 strain of Influenza A virus associated with the 2004 canine influenza outbreak in Florida. The EIV NP, EIV M, and EIV HA3 assays could detect CIV nucleic acid at threshold cycle (Ct) values of 16.31, 23.71, and 15.28, respectively. Three assays using TCF or allantoic fluid (AF) samples containing CIV (n  =  13) and archived canine nasal swab samples (n  =  20) originally submitted for laboratory diagnosis of CIV were further evaluated. All TCF and AF samples, together with 10 nasal swab samples that previously tested positive for virus by attempted isolation in embryonated hens' eggs or Madin-Darby canine kidney cells, were positive in all 3 real-time RT-PCR assays. None of the 3 assays detected the H1N1 Swine influenza virus strain in current circulation. These findings demonstrate that previously described real-time RT-PCR assays targeting NP, M, and H3 HA gene segments of H3N8 EIV are also valuable for the diagnosis of CIV infection in dogs. The assays could expedite the detection and identification of CIV.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21088179/