TDK conference 2016

The exact role of the gastric Helicobacter-like organisms (GHLO) is not known for the present in the development of gastric tumors and gastrointestinal inflammation in dogs, and it needs further examination. The cost effective detection in everyday clinical practice is an important matter. In dogs the first description of the standalone canine circovirus happened in 2012. There is no data about the prevalence of the virus in Hungary.

One of the objectives of our research is to reveal Helicobacter with PCR and routine histopathological examination obtained during endoscopic examination of dogs with diarrhea and/or vomiting symptoms came to gastroduodenoscopy, and comparison of the effectiveness of these detection tests. Our other objective is to detect canine circovirus from endoscopic gastric and intestinal biopsies with PCR. We conclude from the results of the tests in the practical usability of the detection methods of the Helicobacter, and conclude in the circovirus infection level of the domestic dog population.

In our research, 20 randomly chosen animals were used. The histological processing of the biopsies obtained during the endoscopic examination (modified Giemsa stain, hematoxylin and eosin staining) had happened in the Pathology Department. During Helicobacter PCR for the 16S rRNA gene an individually designed genome specific primer was used, while for the positive control the Heliobacter pylori strains were used. For the circovirus PCR also a uniquely designed primer was used, which compared to the NCBI database, resulted in 100% match with the canine circovirus isolates. For the circovirus a positive control was not available.

In case of GHLO detection with histological diagnosis positive results were found in 2/20 animals, while the usage of PCR resulted this in 10/20 ratio. The histopathological examination of samples gave positive results by PCR, too. Considering GHLO the specificity of histopathologic examination is 100%, the sensitivity is 20%, the positive predictive value is 100%, the negative predictive value is 55.5%, if we take the results of the tests based on PCR. In the PCR analysis of canine circovirus 5/20 samples gave positive results.

If the PCR results are accepted, then the conclusion can be drawn, that the histopathological examination on its own is not reliable enough. The question arises about the possibility of a false positive for PCR, especially considering the circumstances of the collection period. As a positive control canine circovirus was not available, we could not make sure, that we detected circovirus. The five suspected positive PCR product was sent to sequence analysis, which confirmed circovirus positivity.