Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Detecting Anaplasma platys in dogs' blood and tissue
By Eddlestone, S M et al.·Published in Experimental parasitology·2007·Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: PCR detection of Anaplasma platys in blood and tissue of dogs during acute phase of experimental infection.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
Four dogs were intentionally infected with a bacteria called Anaplasma platys to study how it affects their blood. Within four days, the dogs showed signs of infection, including low platelet counts, which can lead to bleeding problems. While the blood tests were positive for the bacteria initially, they became negative after two weeks, even though some dogs still had the bacteria in their spleen and bone marrow. This suggests that if a dog shows symptoms but blood tests are negative, vets might need to check other tissues for a more accurate diagnosis.
People also search for: dog blood infection symptoms · Anaplasma platys treatment · dog low platelet count causes
Abstract
Four dogs were experimentally infected with Anaplasma platys to determine changes in real-time TaqMan PCR detection in blood and tissue, microscopically detectable parasitemia, and platelet concentrations during the first 28 days of infection. Buffy-coat blood cells were PCR positive for A. platys DNA at 4 days after inoculation and remained positive in all dogs until day 14. Marked thrombocytopenia and low parasitemia occurred in dogs during that initial period. During 17 and 28 days post-inoculation, the PCR results on buffy-coat blood cells were intermittently negative in each dog with marked thrombocytopenia and no microscopic evidence of parasitemia. Bone marrow and splenic aspirates collected from the A. platys-infected dogs were tested by real-time TaqMan PCR. Two dogs were PCR positive in spleen and marrow at 28 days post-inoculation, when PCR results for buffy-coat blood cells were negative. Spleen and/or bone marrow samples should be considered as additional samples for PCR testing of dogs, particularly when blood samples are PCR negative during the acute phase of A. platys infection.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17034792/