Abstract
BackgroundSeptic arthritis (SA) is a serious condition in dogs that requires a prompt diagnosis and treatment to minimize long-term joint pathology. Although bacterial detection in synovial fluid (SF) through culture or cytology is often performed to confirm diagnosis, the sensitivity of these tests is low. The need for a reliable diagnostic tool to confirm the presence of bacteria in SF in humans has led to the increased use of 16S rRNA (i.e., ribosomal RNA) gene sequencing by polymerase chain reaction (16S rRNA PCR). The aim of this prospective clinical study was to compare the sensitivity and specificity of 16S rRNA PCR with bacterial culture on blood agar plates after pre-incubation of SF in paediatric blood bacterial culture bottles to identify bacteria in dogs with clinical signs of SA and to investigate the usefulness of these methods as diagnostic tools.ResultsTen dogs with clinical signs of SA, nine with osteoarthritis (OA, control group) and nine with clinical signs of immune-mediated polyarthritis (IMPA, second control group) were examined. Bacterial culture was positive in seven of 10 dogs with clinical SA, of which only two were positive by 16S rRNA PCR. The sensitivity of 16S rRNA PCR and bacterial culture analysis for dogs with clinical SA were 20% and 70%, respectively. All SF samples collected from control group (n = 9) and second control group (n = 14) animals were negative on culture, and 16S rRNA PCR rendered a specificity of 100%.ConclusionsOur study showed a lower sensitivity of 16S rRNA PCR than bacterial culture for dogs with clinical SA. Our findings suggest that there is currently no advantage in using 16S rRNA PCR as a diagnostic tool for dogs with clinical SA. Furthermore, our study indicates that pre-incubation in paediatric blood bacterial culture bottles before bacterial cultivation on blood agar plates might enhance bacterial culture sensitivity compared to other culture methods.
Highlights
Septic arthritis (SA) is a serious condition in dogs that requires a prompt diagnosis and treatment to minimize long-term joint pathology
Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
SA generally presents as monoarthritis, septic polyarthritis can occur, and the clinical presentation might be similar to non-infectious arthritis, such as immune-mediated polyarthritis (IMPA) [1, 9]
Summary
Septic arthritis (SA) is a serious condition in dogs that requires a prompt diagnosis and treatment to minimize long-term joint pathology. Bacterial culture of SF is limited by the time required from sampling until laboratory results are ready, which is usually in the range of 3–5 days, and false negative results occur in both dogs [1, 3, 4, 8, 18] and humans [20,21,22,23,24], at approximately 50% in the former (range of 20–50%) Several reasons for this have been implicated, such as the recent use of antimicrobials, fastidious nature of the causative bacteria and method of sample collection [1, 3, 22]. These bottles are adjusted for smaller sample volumes, which may be advantageous because the sample volume for dogs may be small [4, 8]
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