DIAGNOSIS OF CANINE DISTEMPER USING IMMUNOCHROMATOGRAPHIC ASSAY AND COMPARISON WITH REVERSE TRANSCRIPTASE PCR.

Canine Distemper (CD) caused by Canine Distemper virus (CDV) is one of the most severe and infectious viral diseases of dogs and many other carnivores producing high morbidity and mortality. The present study was carried out to detect the presence CDV in suspected dogs by Immunochromatographic (IC) test and by RT-PCR. Sixty dogs were diagnosed with CDV based on clinical manifestation indicating an incidence of 0.75 per cent of which 43.33 per cent were found to be positive for CD when the clinical samples (nasal/conjunctival swab) were subjected to IC test, indicating that clinical manifestation alone cannot be the criteria for diagnosis of CD and IC test is better suitable for diagnosis of CD. Samples positive and negative for IC test of both nasal and conjunctival origin, were subjected to RT-PCR for the detection of CDV RNA by amplification of N gene. The desired amplicon of 549 bp was detected in 42.5 per cent of samples of which 35.29 per cent were of nasal origin and 64.70 per cent were of conjunctival origin. Hence, it can be concluded that conjunctival swab is a better biological sample than nasal swab for the diagnosis of CD by RT-PCR. The results of the study conclude that the sensitivity of the Immunochromatography test is lower than that of RT-PCR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]