Vol. 7, Issue 11, Part A (2025)

Canine parvovirus (CPV) infection poses a significant threat to the health and well-being of dogs worldwide. It is a small, non-enveloped virus consisting of linear, single-stranded negative-sense DNA of approximately 5 kb in length. The present study was conducted in Department of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinary College, Bengaluru to assess the efficacy of lateral flow assay (LFA) in comparison to the conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in detecting CPV antigen in the faecal samples of CPV- suspected dogs under one year of age. CPV antigen was detected by LFA in 44 percent of the suspected dogs, whereas PCR detected CPV DNA in 72 percent. PCR targeting partial VP (Viral Protein)-2 gene, yielding the amplicon size of 630 base pairs (bp) was performed. The specificity and sensitivity of LFA was 100 and 61.1 percent, respectively, in comparison with the PCR. Although LFA allow patient side diagnosis PCR remains the most sensitive and reliable method for the confirmatory detection of CPV infection in clinical cases.