engleski

Specificity and sensitivity evaluation of rapid diagnostic tests for feline immunodeficiency virus and feline leukemia virus infection

Diagnostic of Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) infection has been studied for many years and there have been developed various methods of diagnostic that are still being improved and validated. In the past, direct immunofluorescence has been used for routine diagnostic, but it is replaced by rapid diagnostic tests that are based on the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) principle. Since the possible occurrence of false positive and false negative results of such tests, to verify their specificity and sensitivity there have been many studies with controversial results. In this study 30 samples of cats whole blood were simultaneously tested with rapid diagnostic tests (FASTest FeLV and FASTest FIV) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for detection of proviral DNA. The aim of this work was to determine the specificity and sensitivity of commercial rapid diagnostic tests for FIV and FeLV comparing these results with the results of more sensitive and specific PCR method. The results showed that the sensitivity of rapid diagnostic test FASTest FeLV was 88.9% while the specificity had been 90.0%. The sensitivity of rapid diagnostic test FASTest FIV was 100.0%, while specificity had been 46.2%. These results demonstrate that the rapid diagnostic test FASTest FeLV is sufficient diagnostic method as a guideline in clinical practice. However, due to insufficient sensitivity and specificity, positive and negative results need to be further confirmed by molecular method if they disparate to epizootiological data and the clinical signs. Fast diagnostic test FASTest FIV can be used with high reliability in clinical practice to the exclusion of immunodeficiency virus infection of cats, but because of low specificity (46.2%) each positive result must be further confirmed by molecular method.

FIV; FeLV; rapid diagnostic test; sensitivity; specificity; PCR

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