Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Testing shelter cats with qPCR to find and cure ringworm infections
By Moriello, Karen A & Leutenegger, Christian M·Published in Veterinary dermatology·2018·School of Veterinary Medicine, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Use of a commercial qPCR assay in 52 high risk shelter cats for disease identification of dermatophytosis and mycological cure.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
Fifty-two shelter cats with skin lesions were tested for a fungal infection called dermatophytosis, which is often caused by the fungus Microsporum canis. A special test called qPCR was used to confirm the presence of the infection and to check if the cats had recovered after treatment. The qPCR test matched well with traditional fungal culture tests, correctly identifying most infected cats and helping to confirm when they were no longer infected. Overall, the qPCR test proved to be a reliable tool for diagnosing and monitoring treatment success in these cats.
People also search for: cat skin lesions treatment · how to test for fungal infection in cats · cat dermatophytosis recovery signs
Abstract
BACKGROUND: qPCR is used to test for dermatophytosis. OBJECTIVES: To determine the clinical usefulness of a commercial qPCR for confirming dermatophytosis in lesional cats, and the clinical usefulness of the qPCR Microsporum spp. and/or M. canis assay for confirming mycological cure. ANIMALS: Fifty two shelter cats with skin lesions. METHODS: qPCR testing of toothbrush fungal culture samples of lesions. RESULTS: qPCR and fungal culture (FC) matched in 49 of 52 cats. The qPCR correctly identified 45 of 46 and two of four cats with M. canis and Trichophyton spp. infections, respectively. qPCR correctly identified two cats as not infected. No evidence of cross reactivity was noted. The Microsporum spp. qPCR assay was positive in 45 of 46 (97.8%) of infected cats. Results were positive on both Microsporum spp. and M. canis assays in 29 of 45 cats. No cat had a positive qPCR result for M. canis alone. Mycological cure was defined as two negative fungal cultures. There were 92 negative FC from the 46 treated cats and qPCR assay for Microsporum spp. and M. canis was negative in 68 of 92 (73.1%) and 79 of 92 (85.9%) samples, respectively. The number of cats correctly identified with mycological cure via qPCR was 30 of 46 (65.2%) and 39 of 46 (84.8%) cats for the Microsporum spp. and M. canis assays, respectively. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: The commercial qPCR assay was a reliable test for confirming disease. The qPCR Microsporum spp. assay was more useful for initial disease confirmation; while the qPCR M. canis assay was more useful for determining mycological cure.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28833730/