Abstract:

Worldwide, the infection with canine parvovirus type 2 (CPV-2) is one of the main causes of hemorrhagic enteritis in dogs and having a diagnostic technique that is highly sensitive is essential for veterinarians, dog owners and breeders. In this work, a protocol was implemented that uses the conventional Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to detect a CPV-2 DNA fragment from feces of dogs with clinical signology corresponding to canine parvovirus. In total, 12 stool samples that were positive with conventional PCR were collected and analyzed, which was confirmed by sequencing the fragments obtained and contrasted with the sequences of the different variants of CPV-2 described in the GenBank database. The same samples were analyzed with a rapid test, which corresponds to a routine immunochromatography (IC) technique in the veterinary practice. In this case of the 12 samples analyzed, only 41.7% were positive, showing a lower sensitivity than the molecular technique for the diagnosis of canine parvovirus. Additionally, an analysis of the nucleotide sequences obtained was made, yielding an average variability of 0.7%. The results of this work allow to establish that conventional PCR is a recommended diagnostic technique for the detection of canine parvovirus, but not the rapid tests used in the veterinary practice that in this and other studies have consistently shown low sensitivity. It is important to note that the present work is the first molecular approach to canine parvovirus type 2 in Chile.