Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Deep oral swabs vs tracheal wash for pneumonia bacteria in dogs
By Sumner, Catherine M et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary emergency and critical care (San Antonio, Tex. : 2001)·2011·Department of Clinical Sciences at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, United States·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 We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above.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: The use of deep oral swabs as a surrogate for transoral tracheal wash to obtain bacterial cultures in dogs with pneumonia.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
Five puppies and five adult dogs with pneumonia were studied to see if deep oral swabs could replace the more invasive method of taking samples from the trachea. While all dogs had positive cultures, the results showed that deep oral swabs did not agree with the tracheal wash results in puppies, meaning they aren't reliable for them. In adult dogs, there was some agreement in a few cases, but the traditional method is still the best choice overall. This suggests that while deep oral swabs might be useful in some adult cases, they are not suitable for puppies with pneumonia.
People also search for: dog pneumonia treatment · puppy pneumonia symptoms · adult dog pneumonia care
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine agreement in bacterial culture and susceptibility (BC&S) between deep oral swab (DOS) and routine transoral tracheal wash (TOTW) in dogs with pneumonia. DESIGN: Prospective study, performed between 2008 and 2010 with no follow-up period. SETTING: University teaching hospital. ANIMALS: Five puppies and 5 adult dogs with community or hospital-acquired pneumonia. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: A DOS was collected from each patient; dogs were then briefly anesthetized with propofol(a) for a routine TOTW. Routine microbiology techniques were used for culture. Positive culture results were obtained from all 20 swabs. Results of BC&S were compared between the 2 sites. In all puppies, there was no agreement between DOS and TOTW. In adult dogs, 2 patients with hospital-acquired infection (HAI) had complete agreement between the BC&S results from DOS and TOTW. Two adult dogs had some similarity in BC&S results, and the final dog had no relationship between cultures. CONCLUSIONS: DOS is not an appropriate alternative to TOTW to obtain samples for BC&S in puppies with pneumonia. In adult dogs, traditional TOTW remains the gold standard, but DOS may be considered in dogs with suspected HAI. Further work is needed to confirm this preliminary finding.
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/22316198/