Polymerase chain reaction diagnostic assays for the detection of dirofilaria immitis in blood and mosquitoes

摘要

The present invention discloses polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based assays for the presence of the heartworm parasite Dirofilaria immitis prevalent in dogs and cats, as well as in mosquitoes, which are the transmission vector. The assays are extremely sensitive, and can be used effectively to screen large numbers of samples. The invention provides primers and kits for use in the PCR assay of the invention which are oligonucleotides or oligonucleotide derivatives specific for D. immitis. The invention further discloses methods of detecting the presence of D. immitis in a sample based on PCR which employs the primers of the invention. The invention also discloses methods for rapidly obtaining parasite DNA from blood samples and mosquitoes. The samples that may be assayed include blood samples from mammals (especially dogs and/or cats) suspected of harboring D. immitis and mosquitoes suspected of transmitting the pathogen.