TABLE 4.
Assessment of the effectiveness of three of the PCR assays tested (N18SDIAG, N18SXIAO, and STN-COWP) in detecting the presence of C. felis, C. hominis, C. muris, and C. parvum oocyst DNA in the samples testeda
| Species | No. of DAPI+ oocystsb (no. of empty oocysts) | PCR resultc
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N18SDIAG | STN-COWP | N18SXIAO | ||
| C. felis | 5; 5; 5 | 4+; 4+; 4+ | NA; NA; NA | −; −; − |
| 9; 9 | 4+; − | NA; NA | −; FB | |
| 11 | 1+ | NA | − | |
| 21 (1) | 4+ | NA | − | |
| 22 (3) | 4+ | NA | − | |
| 24 (4) | 4+ | NA | − | |
| C. hominis | 5; 5; 5 | 4+; 4+; 4+ | −; −; − | FB; −; FB |
| 6 (1); 6 (1) | 4+; 4+ | −; − | −; − | |
| 10; 10; 10 | 4+; 4+; 4+ | −; −; − | 1+; 1+; − | |
| 20; 20 | 4+; 4+ | 1+; FB | 4+; FB | |
| 21 | 4+ | 1+ | 2+ | |
| C. muris | 2; 2 | 1+; 2+ | NA; NA | −; − |
| 3; 3 | 1+; 1+ | NA; NA | −; − | |
| 5 | 3+ | NA | − | |
| 6 | − | NA | − | |
| 14 | 4+ | NA | 4+ | |
| C. parvum | 5; 5; 5 | −; −; − | −; −; − | −; −; − |
| 10; 10 | −; 4+ | −; − | −; − | |
| 11 | − | − | − | |
| 19 | − | − | − | |
| 20 (1) | − | − | − | |
| 21 | 4+ | − | 1+ | |
Oocyst numbers were ≤25 per sample.
Slides containing the same number of oocysts are presented in the same row and separated by semicolons.
Each PCR result separated by a semicolon represents the analysis of the slide shown in the first column. PCR results: −, negative PCR; FB, faint band, positive PCR but insufficient amplicon concentration for RFLP analysis; 1+, low-intensity bands with sufficient amplicon concentration for RFLP analysis; 2+, medium-intensity bands with sufficient amplicon concentration for RFLP analysis; 3+, high-intensity bands with sufficient amplicon concentration for RFLP analysis; 4+, very-high-intensity bands with sufficient amplicon concentration for RFLP analysis; NA, not available.