Canine SNAP® parvovirus testing

Canine parvovirus is a highly contagious and severe viral diarrheal disease commonly seen in puppies and unvaccinated dogs throughout the world. For animals that do not receive aggressive supportive care during the disease, the course will commonly succumb to this disease.  While the exact origin of this virus is unknown, it is believed to originate from the feline panleukopenia virus, thus, the Canine SNAP® Parvovirus test can also be used off label to screen for Feline panleukopenia virus.

Procedure

1. Bring test to room temperature if it has been refrigerated
2. Obtain a sampling swab and a SNAP device for each sample to be tested. Pull and twist the tube covering the swab tip to remove the tube from the swab/reagent bulb assembly. Using the swab, coat the swab tip with fecal material. Then, return the swab to the tube. NOTE: Only a thin coat of fecal material on the swab is required; do not coat the swab with excess feces.
3. Break the purple valve stem inside the bulb assembly by bending the assembly at the narrow neck, re-bending the opposite way may be helpful. Squeeze the reagent bulb three times to pass the blue solution through the swab tip and mix it with the sample.

4. Place the SNAP device on a horizontal surface. Using the swab as a pipette, dispense 5 drops of the fluid into the sample well, being careful not to splash contents outside of the sample well. The sample will flow across the result window, reaching the activation circle in 30–60 seconds. Some samples may remain in the sample well.

Fun fact: The word FECES has 5 letters in it and the Parvo test required 5 drops of the brown reagent/fecal solution

5. When color FIRST appears in the activation circle, push the activator firmly until it is flush with the device body
6. Some samples may not flow to the activation circle within 60 seconds, and, therefore, the circle may not turn color. In this case, press the activator after the sample has flowed across the result window.
7. Read the test result at 8 minutes.

Interpretation

If the positive control does not display or the negative control appears positive then the test should be re-run. The positive color change of the negative control likely signifies test interference with another protein or antigen and test results cannot be trusted.

To answer the questions in your laboratory activity. Please refer to the IDEXX website.

Knowledge check