Serologic diagnosis of infectious cyclic thrombocytopenia in dogs using an indirect fluorescent antibody test

An indirect fluorescent antibody test was used for detection of serum antibodies to the platelet-specific rickettsial organism that is the causative agent of infectious cyclic thrombocytopenia (ICT) in dogs. The test converted from negative to positive in 7 of 7 experimentally inoculated dogs. One of 2 attempts to recover the rickettsial agent of ICT from naturally occurring seropositive dogs, by blood inoculation of experimental dogs, was successful. Seemingly, the test did not detect antibodies to Ehrlichia canis, nor did a similar test, using E canis antigen slides, detect antibodies to the rickettsial agent of ICT. The rickettsial agent of ICT has been classified tentatively as E platys. When applied to sera from a group of healthy random-source dogs, the test revealed a relatively low (5%) occurrence of positive reactions. A higher occurrence of positive reactions (35%) was noticed in sera from a group of thrombocytopenic dogs from the University of Florida. A majority of these positive sera were also positive for antibodies to E canis. The highest occurrence of positive reactions was found (greater than 50%) in E canis-positive sera from dogs at the University of Florida, as well as from dogs from 9 other states.