Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Molecular test improved for diagnosing babesiosis in dogs
By Moraes, Pablo Henrique Gonçalves et al.·Published in Revista brasileira de parasitologia veterinaria = Brazilian journal of veterinary parasitology : Orgao Oficial do Colegio Brasileiro de Parasitologia Veterinaria·2014·Laborató·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Optimization of a molecular method for the diagnosis of canine babesiosis.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with suspected blood infections were tested for a disease called babesiosis, which is caused by a parasite transmitted by ticks. Researchers compared two testing methods and found that a more advanced technique called semi-nested PCR detected the parasite in 22% of the samples, while a simpler method only found it in 5%. This suggests that the semi-nested PCR is much better at identifying cases of babesiosis, especially when the infection levels are low. The study recommends using this more sensitive test to get accurate results in diagnosing this disease in dogs.
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Abstract
Babesiosis is a hemolytic disease caused by protozoans of the genus Babesia (Apicomplexa). This disease occurs worldwide and is transmitted by ticks to a variety of mammals, including humans. The objective of the present study was to optimize a molecular approach for the detection of a fragment of 18S rDNA of Babesia canis, Babesia vogeli, Babesia rossi or Babesia gibsoni based on a single semi-nested Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), and compare the efficiency of this approach with that of a simple PCR protocol. To this end, 100 blood samples collected from dogs with suspected hemoparasite infections were analyzed. A comparison of the results of simple PCR and semi-nested PCR indicated a highly significant difference (p value = 0.0000). While only five (5%) of the samples tested positive using the simple protocol, 22 (22%) were positive using the snPCR technique. The results of this study reinforce the findings of previous studies, which have demonstrated the greater sensitivity of tests based on nested or semi-nested PCR. Therefore, to avoid false-negative results due to low levels of parasitemia, we suggest the preferential use of this protocol in epidemiological studies of canine babesiosis, particularly those that require reliable estimates of the prevalence of infection.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24728371/