Certification of microbiological methods of diagnosis of Health Quality Control Laboratory CEMIB / UNICAMP with the ICLAS

Abstract

The international program "ICLAS Animal Quality Network" was developed in 2006 with the goal of improving the quality of animals used in scientific researches. Thus, the "Performance Evaluation Program” (PEP)" was created to assist diagnostic laboratories in evaluating the sensitivity and specificity of laboratory tests. The program has 22 participants worldwide, and the CEMIB / UNICAMP Animal Health Laboratory is the only one in South America that attends this program. For analysis, were received 20 blinded samples as followed: isolated bacterial cultures of intestinal fluid and vaginal tract, feces of mice, lung and spleen homogenates, 5 mice and 5 rat sera. For bacteriological diagnosis, selective and differential medium were used. Sera were tested by Indirect Immunofluorescence assay for 16 antigens, and the PCR and RT-PCR were applied for tissue samples. From this total, the laboratory correctly identified 17 of them, which corresponds to 89.4% of compatibility in the diagnosis. The bacteria identified were: Klebisiella oxytoca, Streptococcus agalactiae, Stenotrophomonas malthophilia, Staphylococcus sciuri, and Mycoplasma pulmonis. It was observed that the serum had specific antibodies to: Reovirus-3, Mouse minute virus, Mycoplasma pulmonis, Murine hepatitis virus, Sendai virus, rat coronavirus, rat theilovirus and Adenovirus. Two of these sera showed negative results for the tested antigens. Molecular analyses of lung and spleen homogenates were positive for Parvovirus and Pneumocystis murina, respectively. This first trial was important to evaluate the methodologies adopted and to detect potential problems related to methods used in the process, which aims to ensure the quality of the laboratory diagnosis offered to the scientific community