dog and cat assay data sheet

Aspergillus species

Test code: F0009 - Ultrasensitive qualitative detection of most common Aspergillus species by real time PCR.

Aspergillus is a filamentous fungus that occurs ubiquitously in the environment. It is found in soil, on plants, in decaying organic matter, and in household dust and building materials. Most people inhale Aspergillus spores every day without being affected, but for immunocompromised persons such as AIDS patients and cancer patients, inhaling the fungal spores may cause illness. The spectrum of illness includes allergic reactions, lung infections, and infections in other organs.

There are more than 185 species of Aspergillus; the most common species are Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus flavus. Other common species include Aspergillus terreus, Aspergillus nidulans, and Aspergillus niger.

Human and many animal species such as birds, dogs, cats, horses and primates can be infected with Aspergillus by inhalation of spores from contaminated feed, fecal material, and soil. Healthy unstressed animals are generally resistant to even high levels of spores. However, young and old animals, those on antibiotics, and those whose immune systems are suppressed by surgery, reproduction, environmental changes, capture, or shipping may become infected. Human patients with AIDS, cancer or other immunosuppressive diseases are often victims of this fungal infection.

Since many animals have had prior exposure to this fungus, serological testing is not useful or reliable. Culture identification is labor intensive and cultures are frequently contaminated with other fungi. Molecular detection by PCR can provide quick, sensitive and specific detection of the fungus in a variety of specimen types (Buess et al., 2012).

Utilities:

• Help confirm the disease causing agent
• Shorten the time required to confirm a clinical diagnosis of Aspergillus infection.
• Help ensure that animal groups are free of this fungus
• Early prevention of spread of this fungus
• Minimize human exposure to this fungus
• Safety monitoring of biological products that derive from susceptible animals

References:
Buess, M., Cathomas, G., Halter, J., Junker, L., Grendelmeier, P., Tamm, M. and Stolz, D. (2012) Aspergillus-PCR in bronchoalveolar lavage for detection of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in immunocompromised patients. BMC Infectious Diseases 12: 237-244.

Specimen requirements: Throat or respiratory swab, or 0.2 ml water, or fungal culture, or 0.2 ml fresh, frozen or fixed tissue, or environmental surface swab.

Contact Zoologix if advice is needed to determine an appropriate specimen type for a specific diagnostic application. For specimen types not listed here, please contact Zoologix to confirm specimen acceptability and shipping instructions.

For all specimen types, if there will be a delay in shipping, or during very warm weather, refrigerate specimens until shipped and ship with a cold pack unless more stringent shipping requirements are specified. Frozen specimens should be shipped so as to remain frozen in transit. See shipping instructions for more information.

Turnaround time: 2 business days

Methodology: Qualitative real time PCR

Normal range: Nondetected