Evaluation of 5 point-of-care tests for the detection of Leishmania infantum antibodies in dogs

Canine leishmaniosis is a widespread, potentially fatal disease caused by infection with Leishmania infantum . We evaluated 5 commercial point-of-care tests (POCTs) for the detection of L. infantum antibodies in dog sera and compared their performance with the immunofluorescence assay (IFA) as the reference method. We tested serum samples from 160 dogs that either had lived in or traveled to leishmaniosis-endemic areas using the following immunochromatography POCTs: the trüRapid Leish (Biotech), FASTest Leish (Megacor), Leishmania Ab (Bionote), and Uranotest Leishmania 2.0 and 3.0 (Uranovet). Practicality, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were determined. The prevalence of L. infantum antibodies in all dogs was 28.1% as determined by IFA. The highest sensitivity among POCTs was achieved by the Leishmania Ab and the Uranotest Leishmania 2.0 (88.9%), followed by the trüRapid Leish (86.4%), the Uranotest Leishmania 3.0 (84.4%), and the FASTest Leish (48.9%). The highest specificity was achieved by the FASTest Leish (100%) followed by the Leishmania Ab (98.3%), the trüRapid Leish (96.5%), the Uranotest Leishmania 3.0 (94.8%), and the Uranotest Leishmania 2.0 (90.4%). Given its comparatively high sensitivity and specificity, the Leishmania Ab may be considered for screening dogs from endemic areas and for confirming Leishmania infection in clinical dogs.