Institute of Parasitology, Vetsuisse Faculty, Winterthurerstrasse 266a, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland.
Parasit Vectors. 2012 Nov 13;5:258. doi: 10.1186/1756-3305-5-258.
Dirofilaria immitis and Angiostrongylus vasorum are both important potentially fatal canine nematodes with overlapping endemic areas, especially in Europe. The preadult and adult stages of both species are living in the Arteria pulmonalis and the right heart, and diagnostically detectable circulating parasite antigens have been demonstrated for both species. For the detection of D. immitis infections, a variety of commercial tests have been developed, however, they have not been evaluated for cross-reactions against circulating antigens of A. vasorum.
In this study, potential cross-reactions of sera from 16 dogs, which were experimentally infected with A. vasorum and which had circulating antigens as confirmed by a species-specific ELISA, were evaluated for the detection of A. vasorum antigen in six commercially available D. immitis test kits.
In three fast tests (Witness® Dirofilaria, SensPERT® Canine Heartworm, SNAP® 4Dx® Plus), all sera were negative. One fast membrane ELISA (SNAP® HTWM RT Test) was positive with four sera (25%), and one serum delivered a non-valid result twice. In the PetChek® HTWM PF Test, depending on the interpretation protocol, 5 or 8 dogs (31.2 - 50%) were positive. With the DiroCHEK®-ELISA, a single A. vasorum-infected dog (6.2%) tested positive.
Due to potential cross-reactions with A. vasorum in commercially available test kits for the detection of D. immitis antigen, the simultaneous use of highly specific diagnostic methods for the differentiation of these two canine heart worms is recommended.
犬恶丝虫和血管圆线虫都是重要的潜在致命犬类线虫，具有重叠的流行地区，特别是在欧洲。这两个物种的幼期和成虫期都生活在肺动脉和右心，并且已经证明这两个物种都有可检测的循环寄生虫抗原。已经开发出了多种用于检测犬恶丝虫感染的商业检测方法，但尚未评估它们对血管圆线虫循环抗原的交叉反应。
在这项研究中，评估了 16 只经实验感染血管圆线虫且通过特异性 ELISA 确认有循环抗原的犬的血清对六种市售的犬恶丝虫检测试剂盒中检测血管圆线虫抗原的潜在交叉反应。
在三种快速检测（Witness® Dirofilaria、SensPERT® Canine Heartworm、SNAP® 4Dx® Plus）中，所有血清均为阴性。一种快速膜 ELISA（SNAP® HTWM RT Test）对 4 份血清（25%）呈阳性，一份血清两次给出无效结果。在 PetChek® HTWM PF Test 中，根据解释方案，5 或 8 只犬（31.2% - 50%）呈阳性。在 DiroCHEK®-ELISA 中，一只感染血管圆线虫的犬（6.2%）呈阳性。
由于在市售的犬恶丝虫抗原检测试剂盒中存在与血管圆线虫的潜在交叉反应，因此建议同时使用高度特异性的方法来区分这两种犬心丝虫。
