Frequency of Brucella canis seropositivity in at-risk dogs referred for veterinary care in the UK.

Confirm positive B. canis LFTs with governmental laboratory testing due to suboptimal LFT performance.

This retrospective study evaluated the frequency of Brucella canis seropositivity in 375 at-risk dogs referred to a UK veterinary center between March 2021 and December 2022. Dogs with travel history outside the UK or clinical signs compatible with brucellosis underwent serological testing. Nine dogs showed positive results on initial screening, but confirmatory testing at a governmental laboratory revealed only 5 true positives among 179 dogs tested (2.8% prevalence; 95% CI 1.2%-6.4%). Notably, lateral flow test (LFT) performance was suboptimal: only 1 of 5 positive LFTs was confirmed, while 2 dogs with negative LFTs tested positive at the governmental laboratory. The study demonstrates that B. canis prevalence in this at-risk UK population remains low, but highlights the importance of confirmatory testing for positive LFT results due to poor sensitivity and specificity. These findings suggest that point-of-care testing alone is insufficient for B. canis diagnosis and that suspected cases should be referred for laboratory confirmation.

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