Evaluation of a commercial kit of chromatographic immunoassay for detection of canine distemper antigen in dogs with systemic or neurologic signs of the disease

Abstract

The canine distemper is a multisystemic disease highly contagious which can lead to serious consequences and even to death. Different types of tests can be used for the ante mortem diagnosis of canine distemper, however, due to unpredictable course of the disease, the final diagnosis remains uncertain in some cases. We evaluated in 33 dogs with suspected canine distemper, the effectiveness of a commercial test for detection of antigen (Ag) of canine distemper, still comparing the frequency of clinical and neurological signs among positive and negative dogs. In 27/33 dogs the material was collected from the ocular mucosa, in 5/33 dogs the test was performed with CSF and in one animal material was collected from the ocular mucosa and CSF. In 14 dogs was performed also the RT-PCR technique. The Ag test was positive in 7/13 confirmed cases of canine distemper, all of them with systemic signs, but in dogs that had only neurologic signs, the antigen test was negative. In six dogs the antigen test was negative, however the RT-PCR was positive. The results of this study showed that the antigen test did not help for the canine distemper diagnosis in many cases with systemic and neurologic signs, still allowing that several cases had false-negative results.