Prevalence of Enteropathogens in Dogs Attending 3 Regional Dog Parks in Northern California

Hascall, K.L.; Kass, P.H.; Saksen, J.; Ahlmann, A.; Scorza, A.V.; Lappin, M.R.; Marks, S.L.

There were several limitations to this study, including the lack of Giardia ELISA testing that could have helped validate the PCR and fecal flotation results for Giardia. 8 In addition, confirmation testing for PCR assay results was only performed for the dogs that had Giardia assemblages determined by genetic sequencing. The direct fluorescent antibody test is the gold standard for diagnosis of Giardia in humans; 32 however, the test was not performed on all 300 fecal specimens due to its relatively high cost. Detection of C. perfringens CPE via ELISA would have also helped improve the diagnosis of C. perfringens and would have been helpful to determine the association between CPE detection and the presence of cpe above threshold. Future studies should include testing for C. perfringens spore-forming toxins (netE and netF) that were unavailable at the time of the study.