2015 ACVIM Forum Research Abstract Program

The objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical utility of fecal PCR as a diagnostic test for detecting foals with R. equi pneumonia using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) methods. The study included 186 foals born in 2011 on an R. equiendemic ranch in Texas. Fecal samples were collected every 2 weeks for all foals and at the time of onset of clinical signs in affected foals (n = 31). Foals with pneumonia were matched by age and date-of-birth to healthy (n = 31) and subclinical (n = 124) control foals. The concentration of R. equi in feces, determined by qPCR, differed significantly (P < 0.05) among groups. The area under the ROC curve for using fecal qPCR for diagnosis of R. equi pneumonia was 89% (95% CI, 83% to 99%) with a sensitivity of 94% and a specificity of 72%.