Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Accuracy of two rapid tests for early leptospirosis diagnosis in dogs
By Gloor, C I et al.·Published in The Journal of small animal practice·2017·Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine·View original on PubMed →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: Diagnostic value of two commercial chromatographic "patient-side" tests in the diagnosis of acute canine leptospirosis.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs suspected of having leptospirosis, a serious bacterial infection, underwent two rapid tests to see how well they could diagnose the disease. The tests showed good accuracy, with one test identifying about 82% of cases correctly, while the other was even more specific, correctly identifying all healthy dogs. However, a negative result from these tests doesn’t rule out leptospirosis, so vets may still need to use other tests for confirmation. These rapid tests can be helpful tools for early diagnosis, but they should be used alongside additional testing for the best results.
People also search for: dog leptospirosis symptoms · rapid test for dog leptospirosis · how to diagnose leptospirosis in dogs
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To determine the diagnostic performance of two patient-side tests (RDT-1: Test-it™ and RDT-2 Witness®Lepto) in the early diagnosis of canine leptospirosis. METHODS: Retrospective study of 108 dogs with leptospirosis and 53 controls. Leptospirosis was diagnosed based on compatible clinical and clinicopathologic signs and either a single microscopic agglutination test titre_ >800 (n=49), seroconversion (n=53), positive urine real time PCR (RT-PCR) (n=1), evidence of spirochaetes in silver-stained tissues (n=1) or a combination of these (n=4). Leptospirosis was excluded in dogs with a convincing alternative diagnosis and single microscopic agglutination testing titres _<200 (n=46) or lack of seroconversion (n=7). Indices of diagnostic accuracy of the rapid diagnostic tests were calculated by comparing admission rapid diagnostic test results to the final disease status. RESULTS: Rapid diagnostic test-1 was performed in 118 dogs, rapid diagnostic test-2 in 69 dogs and both tests in 26 dogs. Weak positive results occurred frequently representing 22·6% (rapid diagnostic test-1) and 32·3% (rapid diagnostic test-2) of all positive tests in dogs with leptospirosis. If weak positive rapid diagnostic tests were considered positive, rapid diagnostic test-1 and rapid diagnostic test-2 had sensitivities of 82 and 76%, specificities of 91 and 100%, positive predictive values of 94% and 100% and negative predictive values of 73% and 74%, respectively. There were some technical problems with rapid diagnostic test-1. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The diagnostic performance of the rapid diagnostic tests is similar to that reported for the microscopic agglutination test. Both can support a diagnosis of leptospirosis with high specificity but leptospirosis cannot be excluded based on a negative admission test result. Both RDTs are useful in conjunction with other confirmatory tests.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28133734/