Abstract
Summary Asymptomatic carriage of leptospires in dogs has not been extensively studied. A prospective study was conducted on thirty apparently healthy male dogs to screen for Leptospiral DNA in their blood and urine. All dogs were up to date with a bivalent vaccine against Leptospirosis. Microscopic agglutination test (MAT) and real-time PCR analysis in blood and urine were performed for each dog. Six of 30 (20%) dogs had positive PCR results: two from blood samples (all MAT titres ≤ 160) and four from urine samples (one with maximal MAT titres of 2560 and three with all MAT titres ≤ 160). Ten months later, PCR analyses of blood and urine were repeated for these six dogs. Four had negative PCR results from blood and urine. The other two, with positive urine results at the first sampling, had negative PCR results from urine and positive PCR results from blood. In this study, the urinary shedding of leptospires appeared to be transient. As shown previously, serological status was not correlated with PCR results. Low but detectable amounts of Leptospiral DNA in the blood of some apparently healthy dogs raises questions regarding the pathophysiology of Leptospirosis and the diagnostic consequences of high-sensitivity PCR assays.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
