Utility of diagnostic tests used in diagnosis of infection in dogs experimentally inoculated with North American isolate of Leishmania infantum infantum

Eight female beagles were infected with 1 ×107 (low dose, LD) or 2 × 108 (high dose, HD) promastigotes of a North American isolate of Leishmania infantum infantum (LIVT‐1 strain) isolated from naturally infected Virginia Foxhounds. Two female beagles served as negative controls and 2 male beagles chronically infected (>3 years) with Leishmania infantum chagasi were positive controls. Bone marrow (BM) and lymph node (LN) aspirates were collected every 6–8 weeks for cytologic evaluation, parasite culture, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Serum samples were collected monthly for determination of serologic responses by indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) and diagnostic rK39 antigen. Cultures of BM and LN aspirates and cytology evaluation were consistently positive in positive control dogs during the course of study. Negative control dogs were negative on BM and LN cultures and on cytologic evaluation of aspirates. Amastigotes were present on cytological examination of BM aspirates in 2 experimentally infected dogs. Cultures of LN aspirates were positive on 22 samples, whereas BM cultures were positive on 12 samples for all dogs. IFA titers ranged from 0 to 1:400 in experimentally infected dogs during the course of the study. Recombinant K39 immunoassay tests were consistently positive in positive control dogs and in the HD dogs by approximately 8 weeks after infection. BM PCR products were identified more consistently in the HD dogs compared with the LD dogs. Kappa statistics indicated PCR correlated better with cultures and cytology than did IFAT or the rK39 immunoassay results in the experimentally infected dogs.