PCRun a Novel Point-of-Care PCR for the Ehrlichia canis

PCRun a Novel Point-of-Care PCR for the Ehrlichia canis
PCRun a Novel Point-of-Care PCR for the Ehrlichia canis

Clinical Verification of PCRun

The aim of the study was to determine the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of Biogals’s isothermal Ehrlichia canis PCRun®DNA Detection Kit which targets a section of the 16S rDNA gene. This was accomplished by comparing the performance of the kit with an in-house probe-based TaqMan Real Time PCR which targets the citrate synthase gene (glt4)2.

 

Background: Ehrlichia canis is an obligately intracellular, tick-transmitted (Rhipicephalus sanguineus), gram-negative, bacterium. Following transmission, the rickettsia reside within monocytes and macrophages as microcolonies within intracellular vacuoles (morula). E. canis is the primary etiologic agent of canine monocytic Ehrlichiosis with distribution in the United States, Europe, South America, Asia and the middleast. With adequate treatment, dogs typically recover, but when untreated or inappropriately treated they can develop subclinical persistent infections and become asymptomatic carriers1. Molecular methods, such as Polymerase Chain Reactions (PCR), deliver rapid, sensitive and highly specific detection of targeted pathogen nucleic acids. Diagnosis can be accomplished in the early stages of disease, well before antibodies are detectable.