PCR Based Diagnosis of Fungal Diseases in Dogs

Interaction with animals provide necessary companionship and helps people to live better life by reducing risk of many health problems, improved fitness and act as a source of social enjoyment. In modern society there is a substantial increase in the number of dogs adopted as pet which also raises the concerns regarding the transmission of infections from dog to their owners and vice versa. Early diagnosis of infected dogs could prevent the owners from these infections. In last decade, PCR has proven its potential applications as an important diagnostic tool but these applications are mainly limited to the diagnosis of human diseases and very little work has been done on animals. Development of PCR assays for detection of commonly found canine fungal infections (aspergillosis, blastomycosis, coccidioidomycosis and cryptococcosis) is of utmost importance in order to ensure the early and accurate diagnosis of infection. Although, a lot of research is being done on molecular diagnosis of animal infectious disease but most of these newly developed assays are either not well optimized or only suitable for laboratory studies. On the basis of reviewed literature it can be concluded that more research work is required to develop an efficient (rapid, sensitive and cost effective) PCR assays for the diagnosis of canine fungal infections.