How Reliable Is Ringworm Pcr ?

[fostersrule]

Hello,
I have a pregnant foster cat who may have ringworm. The shelter usually doesn't send ringworm cats to foster but since she is pregnant along with a couple other reasons, I have her here in my bathroom. She didn't fluoresce under the wood's lamp any of the three times they checked her over a period of 6 or 7 days. Her PCR results were negative. A culture was taken to be sure. This is my problem: my foster room is my bedroom. I did not know that she possibly had ringworm until I was picking her up from the shelter. She is currently quarantined in the bathroom but is due any day now. I would love to move her to my foster room but realized that the results of this culture could take another 7 days (for a total of 3 weeks). This is not ideal. If she is positive she will stay in the bathroom but the vet at the shelter (different shelter than the one who did the culture) does not suspect ringworm. The chance seems to be low and I would rather not wait for the results which could mean she has them in the bathroom and then find out they are negative and move the kittens. She's only about a year old and I have a feeling she'll be a bit squirrelly once they're born. I am just weighing the risk of moving her into my foster room before making the decision. I understand that if she is positive that I will have a much larger area to thoroughly clean and I can deal with that. However, if the risk really is low that the PCR gave a false negative I am willing to take that chance. If anyone could provide some more insight or share your experiences that would be great. Oh, and the reason ringworm is suspected is because of two bald spots on her face. Once is above her left eye and the other is just behind her whisker line on the left side.

 

[jcat]

According to the manufacturer, the PCR test is 95% reliable: https://www.google.de/url?sa=t&sour..._nfVfia5sQjHK6j6A&sig2=paNj9QywvXv1_WRHN9FrzA

If you're willing to take the risk, do the extra cleaning and won't panic if she does turn out to have ringworm, I'd say go with your gut feeling. I would wear long sleeves and change clothing after contact with her until the culture results are in to lessen the chance of it spreading to any children or other pets.

We've had several groups of cats brought in from eastern European shelters who've had ringworm. It wasn't always recognized immediately, so a fair number of people had close contact with them before it was diagnosed, but nobody contracted it. Not all the cats in a group got it, either, though all were treated.

 

[fostersrule]

According to the manufacturer, the PCR test is 95% reliable: https://www.google.de/url?sa=t&sour..._nfVfia5sQjHK6j6A&sig2=paNj9QywvXv1_WRHN9FrzA

If you're willing to take the risk, do the extra cleaning and won't panic if she does turn out to have ringworm, I'd say go with your gut feeling. I would wear long sleeves and change clothing after contact with her until the culture results are in to lessen the chance of it spreading to any children or other pets.

We've had several groups of cats brought in from eastern European shelters who've had ringworm. It wasn't always recognized immediately, so a fair number of people had close contact with them before it was diagnosed, but nobody contracted it. Not all the cats in a group got it, either, though all were treated.

Thank you! I saw another study that said the negative PCR results were 100% but the positives were not and there were several false positives. The areas just look so odd and I can't seem to find any other reason for them which is why I'm a bit anxious. They said to call back tomorrow on the culture. If the results still aren't in, I'll move her to the foster room. Thanks again!

 

[jcat]

What about lice? We had a feral mom that bore 5 kittens at the shelter. The kittens (only) developed a few bald spots, but there was no apparent itching and we didn't see anything on them because they were black. It turned out they had lice, which was very easily treated and not something they pass on to humans.

 

[lesulm16]

I have never had a cat with ringworm but I am a chemist and have used PCR for other reasons on many occasions (and I just looked up some journals on ringworm PCR tests) and PCR is generally very reliable. Studies have shown that PCR is usually 95-100% reliable when detecting ringworm. I would say that the chances of the PCR test being correct is good but ringworm PCR is a relatively new detection method for this particular fungi and is still be researched. If you want to take the chance, odds are you would be fine and that she doesn't have ringworm but with any method there is always the possibility of error.