02346-A: Blood Culture and Blood Microbiome as Minimally Invasive Diagnostics for Canine Bacterial Pneumonia
Grant Status: Closed
Abstract
Canine bacterial pneumonia is a common and serious respiratory infection. Pneumonia can develop from contagious environmental bacteria or from the dog's own bacteria gaining access to the lungs (e.g., after accidentally inhaling food, liquids or vomit). Diagnosis relies on clinical signs, x-rays, and lung fluid (bronchoalveolar lavage fluid or BALF) analysis. Analysis of BALF helps identify the causative bacteria and aids in appropriate antibiotic selection. While key to definitive diagnosis and management of bacterial pneumonia, collection of BALF requires general anesthesia, which can be especially risky in dogs with severe lung disease. To address the clinical need for a minimally invasive diagnostic test, the first study objective is to determine if blood cultures, acting as a surrogate for BALF analysis, can identify the bacteria causing pneumonia and provide antibiotic susceptibility information. In addition, the investigators will employ molecular means of identification of bacterial populations in samples, so called "microbiome" analysis. Researchers will compare BALF and blood microbiomes to determine sample relatedness and then to the bacteria identified via BALF culture to determine if lung bacteria appear in the blood in minute quantities and whether the predominant cultured bacteria is reflected in the blood microbiome.
Publication(s)
None at this time.
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