IDEXX RealPCR™ Tests

Cats and dogs frequently present with diarrhoea, but identifying causative agents often requires numerous tests with varying reliability. The IDEXX Canine and Feline Diarrhoea RealPCR™ Panels allow you to screen for and accurately identify multiple infectious causes of diarrhoea from only a single faecal sample.

Knowing precisely which intestinal pathogen is affecting your patient gives you the information you need to hone treatment recommendations and improve efficacy. And because it’s RealPCR technology, you can find out more quickly and with greater accuracy exactly what’s contributing to your patients’ diarrhoea.

When to use IDEXX Canine and Feline Diarrhoea RealPCR™ Panels:

• To identify the pathogen(s) that may be causing or contributing to diarrhoea.
• For timely diagnosis and determining appropriate therapies/treatments.
• As a surveillance tool for dog or cat populations in shelters, breeding facilities, etc.*
• To identify and minimise human exposure to zoonotic pathogens.

Canine and Feline Diarrhoea Panels and Tests

Specimen requirements:
5 g fresh faeces (1 g minimum) in a sterile container; keep refrigerated; collect sample prior to antibiotic administration.

Canine Respiratory Disease

Multiple infectious agents can be a cause of respiratory disease in dogs. Prompt identification and treatment of these agents allows you to better manage these cases, may lead to less severe clinical signs and allows for appropriate isolation of infected dogs.

The IDEXX Canine Respiratory Disease (CRD) RealPCR™ Panel provides rapid, sensitive and specific identification for seven infectious agents—all at once.

Feline Upper Respiratory Disease

Cats presenting with signs of feline upper respiratory disease (URD)—sneezing, oculonasal discharge, conjunctivitis with or without oral ulceration—are probably common in your practice. But until now, there have been no quick, accurate and affordable tests that could determine the causative agents.

Running the quick and easy IDEXX Feline Upper Respiratory Disease (URD) RealPCR™ Panel dramatically increases your chance of accurately identifying the origins of feline URD.

The results from running this single-panel, real-time PCR test enable you to quickly take the next steps:

• Choose the appropriate treatment
• Quarantine animals as needed
• Improve patient outcome

Canine and Feline Respiratory Panels, Tests and Profiles

Specimen requirements:

Deep pharyngeal swab (with visible organic material on swab; please rub firmly) and a conjunctival swab (wipe eye clean; swab inside of eyelid) in the same tube; collect sample prior to antibiotic administration. Please submit dry  in  an empty, sterile tube; keep refrigerated. 

Clinical signs of canine distemper virus (CDV)—vomiting, diarrhoea, respiratory and even acute and progressive neurologic signs—may be difficult to distinguish from other infectious and noninfectious diseases in young dogs with unknown vaccine histories.

The IDEXX Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) RealPCR™ Test can definitively diagnosis distemper infection to:

• Better guide appropriate therapy
• Support isolation of puppy/dog to prevent spread of infection
• Prepare the pet owner for possible development of neurologic consequences
• Help owners and clinicians make informed decisions about therapy versus euthanasia

Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) Test

Specimen requirements:

Ideal sample depends on clinical manifestation (see below). Keep all samples refrigerated.

• For neurological manifestations: 0.5 mL CSF or 2 mL EDTA whole blood.
• For respiratory manifestations: Deep pharyngeal swab (with visible organic material on swab; please rub firmly) and a conjunctival swab (wipe eye clean, swab inside of eyelid), in the same tube. Please submit dry swabs, without transport media in an empty, sterile tube.
• For GI manifestations: 2 mL EDTA whole blood and rectal swab
• With no distinct clinical manifestations: 2 mL EDTA whole bloodand conjunctival swab (wipe eye clean, swab inside of eyelid). Please submit dry swabs in an empty, sterile tube.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a simple yet elegant process that enables the production of virtually unlimited copies of genetic material in the laboratory.

Real-time PCR is a safer, faster and more robust variation of PCR. Conventional PCR harbours more risk for cross-contamination, is more time consuming and does not allow a quantitative assessment of the quality of the DNA extracted from the sample material.

For most of the inactivated vaccines, real-time PCR does differentiate between vaccination and infection. Real-time PCR does not detect the presence of antibodies; therefore, a positive result indicates presence of the pathogen. For this reason, PCR has a higher association with disease than with antibody detection. Detection of viral DNA/RNA may occur within a few weeks after vaccination with a modified live vaccine (MLV) while the vaccine virus is replicating. We recommend a three-week interval after the last vaccination to prevent detection of any DNA originating from the vaccine.

A positive result confirms the presence of the pathogen. 

A negative result means the pathogen is either not present, below the limit of detection, not detectable by the current PCR assay or that the sample quality was low.

Detection limit of a method is defined in various ways. The most accepted definition is the target nucleic acid concentration or number of molecules that can still be amplified in 95% of the experiments.

The diagnostic sensitivity describes the probability of a true positive result when the PCR is tested in a positive population. In other words, higher sensitivity means higher probability that you’ll correctly identify all positive samples and won’t miss a diagnosis. The diagnostic specificity is described as the probability of a true negative result when the PCR is tested in a negative population. Higher specificity is the probability that the test is really detecting what you’re testing for and not something unrelated. Therefore, higher specificity increases the probability that a positive result is due to the agent.

This depends on the presence or absence of clinical signs, the pathogen(s) suspected and assay being used. In general, a two- to four-week waiting period is recommended.

Yes. PCR is a complementary diagnostic procedure and should be run parallel with other diagnostic assays. Depending on the pathogen, this could include complete blood analysis, serology, antigen detection systems (such as SNAP® tests), etc.

Samples can be stored in a refrigerator (4°C) for up to three days (over the weekend).

Fluids (peritoneal/pleural fluid, whole blood, faeces) and swabs can be stored for three days (over the weekend) in a refrigerator (4°C).

Fresh tissues should be sent on ice within 24 hours. Tissues can be stored in a standard freezer at -20°C for up to one week. Paraffin-embedded tissues are acceptable.

Samples can be submitted with your other laboratory samples. Absorbent material should be included in the secondary container in case of leaks or breaks in the primary container.

The sample type is specific for each pathogen. Please refer to the specimen requirements for each test on the RealPCR Tests tab.

Samples will be kept up to 7 days after receipt for reanalysis.

Ideally, separate samples should be submitted for PCR.

For more information about IDEXX RealPCR™ panels and stand-alone tests, call our Internal medicine specialists at IDEXX Reference Laboratories at 0800 587 0602 Option 1, Option 3.. IDEXX’s board-certified internal medicine specialists are available to help answer your questions, such as:

• When to use a PCR assay
• How to interpret results
• Treatment recommendations

The original samples are stored for seven days. Additional tests can be requested on stored DNA when appropriate. For example, if originally only a distemper PCR was ordered, a full canine respiratory panel can be performed on the stored DNA if the original sample was a conjunctival swab and pharyngeal swab and not whole blood.

The turnaround time varies according to the test selected - please see the 2012 Directory of PCR Services (PDF) for more details