Comparison of a PCR assay in whole blood and serum specimens for canine brucellosis diagnosis
- L. B. Keid, PhD1,
- R. M. Soares, PhD1,
- S. A. Vasconcellos, PhD1,
- V. R. Salgado, MSc1,
- J. Megid, PhD,2 and
- L. J. Richtzenhain, PhD1
- 1 Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Saúde Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua Prof Dr Orlando Marques de Paiva, 87, 05508-900, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
- 2 Departamento de Higiene Veterinária e Saúde Pública, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Botucatu, Brazil
Abstract
The performance of a serum PCR assay was compared with that of a blood PCR assay for the diagnosis of canine brucellosis caused by Brucella canis in 72 dogs. The dogs were classified into three groups (infected, non-infected and suspected brucellosis) according to the results of blood culture and serological tests. The sensitivities of blood PCR and serum PCR were, respectively, 97.14 per cent and 25.71 per cent. The specificities of both were 100 per cent. In the group of dogs with suspected brucellosis, three were positive by blood PCR and none was positive by serum PCR. Serum PCR showed little value for the direct diagnosis of canine brucellosis as the assay had low diagnostic sensitivity and fewer positive dogs were detected by this test than by blood culture, blood PCR, rapid slide agglutination test (RSAT) and RSAT with 2-mercaptoethanol.
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