Diagnosis of chlamydial infection in pet birds: comparison of cloacal-swab culture and peroxidase-antiperoxidase methods.
Cloacal swabs were examined using a peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) method that employs a monoclonal antibody to chlamydiae. The specificity and sensitivity of cloacal-swab PAP examination and the prevalence of chlamydiosis were calculated using both culture and tissue PAP evaluation as standards. The prevalence of chlamydial infections was 9.3% as determined by culture and 46.3% as judged by tissue PAP evaluation. Cloacal-swab PAP examination yielded a sensitivity of 71.4% and specificity of 85.5% when compared with culture results and a sensitivity of 81% and specificity of 85.7% compared with tissue PAP results. Culture had a sensitivity of 47.4% and specificity of 100% compared with tissue PAP results. Similarly, the efficiency of cloacal-swab PAP test was about 84% compared with culture results and tissue PAP. The efficiency of culture compared with tissue PAP was 73.1%.
Moore
F M
FM
Angell Memorial Animal Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02130.
Petrak
M L
ML
McMillan
M C
MC
D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic; D001715:Bird Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D001717:Birds; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D002988:Cloaca / Q000382:microbiology*; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques