Sensitivity and Specificity of a Blood and Urine Galactomannan Antigen Assay for Diagnosis of Systemic Aspergillosis in Dogs

Author:

Garcia RS, Wheat LJ, Cook AK, Kirsch EJ, Sykes JE

Date: 28 May 2012

Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Diagnosis of canine systemic aspergillosis requires fungal culture from a sterile site, or confirmatory histopathology from a nonsterile site. Invasive specimen collection techniques may be necessary.!
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!OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of a serum and urine Aspergillus galactomannan antigen (GMA) ELISA assay for diagnosis of systemic aspergillosis in dogs.!
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!DESIGN: Multicenter study.!
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!ANIMALS: Thirteen dogs with systemic aspergillosis and 89 dogs with other diseases. Thirty-seven of the 89 dogs had signs that resembled those of systemic aspergillosis and 52 dogs were not suspected to have aspergillosis.!
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!PROCEDURE: The GMA ELISA was performed on serum specimens from all dogs and urine specimens from 67 dogs. Galactomannan indices (GMI)à‚ à¢â€°Â¥à‚ 0.5 were considered positive. Results for dogs in each group were compared.!
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!RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The sensitivity and specificity of the assay for serum were 92 and 86%, respectively, and for urine were 88 and 92%, respectively. False negatives were seen only in dogs with localized pulmonary aspergillosis. Use of a cutoff GMI of 1.5 increased specificity to 93% for both serum and urine without loss of sensitivity for diagnosis of disseminated infection. High-level false positives (>à‚ 1.5) occurred in dogs with other systemic mycoses and those treated with Plasmalyte.!
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!CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Serum and urine Aspergillus GMA ELISA is a noninvasive, sensitive, and specific test for the diagnosis of disseminated aspergillosis in dogs when a cutoff GMI of à¢â€°Â¥à‚ 1.5 is used.Copyright à‚© 2012 by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.

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