Top dogs can catch things too!  Our NEW dog show panel checks for 8 pathogens potentially transmissible at dog shows.

 Neuro symptoms getting on your nerves? Try our canine neurological panel - 6 neurological pathogens from 1 CSF sample; or our feline neurological panel - 5 neurological pathogens from 1 CSF sample.

Oh baby! Try our canine breeding PCR panel - 3 canine sexually transmitted diseases tested from swabs or semen samples.

Respiratory symptoms got you breathless? Try our canine respiratory PCR panel - we test for 8 canine respiratory pathogens from throat, nasal and eye swabs.

...or maybe you need our feline respiratory PCR panel -- 6 feline respiratory pathogens from throat, nasal and eye swabs.

Diarrhea got you on the run? Try our canine diarrhea PCR panel -- 8 major diarrheagenic agents from 1 fecal specimen...
...OR our 9-pathogen feline diarrhea PCR panel.

Not feeling sanguine about bloodborne pathogens in cats? Try our feline bloodborne PCR panel -- 4 major bloodborne pathogens from 1 blood sample.

Ticks bugging you? Try our tickborne disease PCR panel -- 7 major tickborne pathogens from 1 blood sample.

Just plain sick and tired? Try our canine anemia PCR panel or our feline anemia PCR panel -- detect and differentiate multiple anemia pathogens from 1 blood sample.

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Zoologix performs canine and feline PCR tests for...

Anaplasma phagocytophilum

Anaplasma platys

Aspergillus species

Aspergillus fumigatus

Babesia

Bartonella

Baylisascaris procyonis

Bordetella bronchiseptica

Borrelia burgdorferi

Brucella canis

Campylobacter

Canine adenovirus type 1

Canine adenovirus type 2

Canine circovirus

Canine enteric coronavirus (CCV1)

Canine distemper

Canine herpesvirus

Canine papillomavirus

Canine parainfluenza virus

Canine parvovirus

Canine pneumovirus

Canine respiratory coronavirus (CCV2)

Chagas disease

Chikungunya virus

Chlamydophila psittaci

Clostridium species

Coccidia

Cryptococcus

Cryptosporidium

Cytauxzoon felis

Demodex gatoi mites

E. coli

Ehrlichia

Entamoeba

Fading kitten syndrome

Feline calicivirus

Feline distemper

Feline enteric coronavirus

Feline foamy virus

Feline herpesvirus type 1

Feline immunodeficiency virus

Feline infectious anemia

Feline infectious peritonitis

Feline leukemia

Feline panleukopenia

Feline papillomavirus

Feline pneunomitis

Feline rhinotracheitis virus

Feline sarcoma virus

Feline syncytial virus

Francisella tularensis

Giardia

Group G strep

Haemobartonella canis

Haemobartonella felis

Helicobacter

Hepatozoon

Influenza type A

Lawsonia intracellularis

Leishmania

Leptospira

Lyme disease

Mange in cats

Microsporum

MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staph aureus)

Mycoplasma canis

Mycoplasma cynos

Mycoplasma felis

Mycoplasma haemocanis

Mycoplasma haemofelis

Neorickettsia helmintheca

Neospora caninum

Pasteurella multocida

Pneumocystis carinii

Rabies

RD114

Reovirus screen

Rickettsia screen

Ringworm

Salmonella

Salmon poisoning disease

Sarcocystis neurona

Streptococcus, Group G

Streptococcus pneumoniae

Streptococcus pyogenes

Streptococcus zooepidemicus

Toxoplasma gondii

Trichomonas/
Tritrichomonas

Trichophyton

Trypanosoma cruzi

Tularemia

West Nile virus

Yersinia pestis

Yersinia pseudotuberculosis


Hepatozoon PCR test for dogs and cats

dog and cat assay data sheet

Hepatozoon species

Test code:
X0029 - Ultrasensitive qualitative detection but not differentiation of Hepatozoon species by real time polymerase chain reaction

Hepatozoon is a genus of the family Hepatozoidae, which consists of over 300 species of obligate intraerythrocytic parasites. Different Hepatozoon species have been described in both vertebrates and invertebrates. Some members of Hepatozoon genus have very complex life cycles. For example, an insect may be infected with a Hepatozoon species. Inside the hemocoel of the insect, sexual reproduction and sporogenic development occur. When the insect is subsequently consumed by a vertebrate host, the sporozoites migrate to the liver of the vertebrate, where they undergo multiple fission (asexual reproduction) to produce merozoites. The merozoites are then released into the bloodstream, where they form gametocytes. When another insect feeds on the blood of the infected vertebrate, the gamonts are taken up into the gut of the insect, and another life cycle begins.

In cases when infected vertebrate and invertebrate hosts do not directly feed on one another, the life cycle is more complicated. For instance, Hepatozoon sipedon can infect mosquitoes and snakes, but since snakes do not typically feed on mosquitoes, a third, intermediate host is required, such as a frog. The frog captures the infected mosquito, and the snake acquires the infection by feeding on the now-infected frog. Another mosquito then feeds on the snake so that another round of the life cycle begins.

In dogs, there are two types of hepatozoonosis, Old World hepatozoonosis and American canine hepatozoonosis (ACH), which present with distinct clinical symptoms. Both types are transmitted by ticks, with the Old World hepatozoonosis transmitted by the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, and the ACH transmitted by the Gulf Coast tick, Amblyomma maculatum. The Hepatozoon species that is responsible is also different for the two types of hepatozoonosis - Hepatozoon canis for the Old World hepatozoonosis, and Hepatozoon americanum for ACH. In both cases, the transmission of the hepatozoon is through the dog’s ingestion of the tick. Dogs infected with H. canis and H. americanum can show very different symptoms. In general, infection with H. canis leads to only mild or subclinical symptoms in immunocompetent dogs. Infection with H. americanum, however, can result in severe clinical symptoms, with death often occurring within 1–2 years without supportive therapies.

In cats, Hepatozoon infection is usually subclinical, and infected cats rarely show symptoms of infection. Although most Hepatozoon infections in cats are caused by H. felis, there is also evidence that H. canis can infect cats.

Hepatozoons including H. canis, H. felis, and H. americanum are widely distributed in the world, although varies in different geographical regions. For example, in one study, Hepatozoon DNA was found in blood samples of 36% of cats tested (Baneth et al., 2013), whereas in two other studies conducted in Portugal, H. felis DNA was detected in blood samples of 15.6% of randomly sampled cats and 8.6% of owned and shelter cats (Maia et al., 2014; Vilhena et al., 2013). 13.5% of domestic dogs in Sardinia, Italy, were found to be positive for H. canis (Chisu et al., 2023), whereas 0% of domestic dogs in Warsaw were found to be positive for H. canis (Zygner et al., 2009). Although the chance of zoonotic transmission of Hepatozoons from dogs or cats to humans is very low, caution is still needed when removing ticks from dogs or cats or when handling infected animals (Kwon et al., 2017).

Current diagnosis of hepatozoonosis relies on clinical symptoms and blood smear examination. The use of molecular techniques, such as PCR, is increasingly adopted as the method of choice due to its high sensitivity and specificity (Otranto et al., 2011).

Utilities:

  • Help confirm the disease causing agent
  • Shorten the time required to confirm a clinical diagnosis of the infection
  • Early prevention of spread of this parasite among a group of dogs or cats
  • Help ensure that animal populations are free of this parasite
  • Minimize human exposure to this parasite
  • Safety monitoring of biological products and vaccines that derive from susceptible animals

References:
Baneth, G. et al. (2013) Redescription of Hepatozoon felis (Apicomplexa: Hepatozoidae) based on phylogenetic analysis, tissue and blood form morphology, and possible transplacental transmission. Parasit Vectors. 6:102.
Chisu, V. et al. (2023) Molecular Survey of Hepatozoon canis Infection in Domestic Dogs from Sardinia, Italy. Vet. Sci. 10:640.
Kwon, S.J. et al. (2017) First Case of Canine Infection with Hepatozoon canis (Apicomplexa: Haemogregarinidae) in the Republic of Korea. Korean J. Parasitol. 55:561-564.
Maia, C. et al. (2014) Bacterial and protozoal agents of feline vector-borne diseases in domestic and stray cats from southern Portugal. Parasit. Vectors. 24;7:115.
Otranto, D. (2011) Diagnosis of Hepatozoon canis in young dogs by cytology and PCR. Parasit. Vectors. 4:55.
Vilhena, H. et al. (2013) Feline vector-borne pathogens in the north and centre of Portugal. Parasit Vectors. 6:99.
Zygner, W. et al. (2009) Detection of the DNA of Borrelia afzelii, Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Babesia canis in blood samples from dogs in Warsaw. Vet. Rec. 164:465-467
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Preferred specimens: 0.2 ml whole blood in EDTA (purple top) tube, or 0.2 ml fresh, frozen or preserved tissue, or whole tick.

Contact Zoologix if advice is needed to determine an appropriate specimen type for a specific diagnostic application. For specimen types not listed here, please contact Zoologix to confirm specimen acceptability and shipping instructions.

For all specimen types, if there will be a delay in shipping, or during very warm weather, refrigerate specimens until shipped and ship with a cold pack unless more stringent shipping requirements are specified. Frozen specimens should be shipped so as to remain frozen in transit. See shipping instructions for more information.

Turnaround time: 2 business days

Methodology: Qualitative real time PCR

Normal range: Nondetected

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