Assessment of quantitative polymerase chain reaction for equine herpesvirus-5 in blood, nasal secretions and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid for the laboratory diagnosis of equine multinodular pulmonary fibrosis.
Authors: Pusterla N, Magdesian K G, Mapes S M, Zavodovskaya R, Kass P H
Journal: Equine veterinary journal
Summary
# Editorial Summary: EHV-5 Detection for Equine Multinodular Pulmonary Fibrosis Diagnosis Equine multinodular pulmonary fibrosis (EMPF) presents a diagnostic challenge in clinical practice, with definitive diagnosis traditionally requiring lung tissue histopathology and EHV-5 PCR confirmation—procedures not always feasible in live animals. Pusterla and colleagues evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of quantitative PCR for detecting EHV-5 across three non-invasive or minimally invasive sample types: blood, nasal secretions, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), comparing results between EMPF-affected horses and healthy controls. Whilst BALF PCR testing proved moderately useful for supporting EMPF diagnosis, blood and nasal secretion samples showed poor diagnostic sensitivity and specificity, limiting their clinical utility as standalone diagnostic tools. These findings suggest that practitioners should not rely on EHV-5 detection from peripheral blood or nasal swabs to diagnose EMPF, though BALF sampling remains a reasonable adjunct to clinical and radiographic findings in suspected cases. Future research into alternative diagnostic markers or refined sampling protocols may improve antemortem diagnostic accuracy for this progressive respiratory condition.
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Practical Takeaways
- •PCR testing of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid is a practical ante mortem diagnostic tool for EMPF, but clinicians should understand the diagnostic limitations and accuracy of this approach
- •Multiple sample types (blood, nasal secretions, BALF) may need to be evaluated to improve diagnostic confidence for EMPF in clinical practice
- •Results can help guide which samples are most useful to collect for EHV-5 PCR testing in horses suspected of having EMPF
Key Findings
- •Study assessed diagnostic utility of qPCR for EHV-5 detection in multiple biological samples (blood, nasal secretions, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid) for EMPF diagnosis
- •Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid PCR is commonly used to support EMPF diagnosis but diagnostic power across different sample types had not been previously established
- •Research aimed to evaluate which biological samples provide optimal diagnostic support for confirming EMPF in living horses