“…In this scenario, molecular techniques are often combined with clinical and hematological evaluation strategies to improve the diagnosis of CME. PCR, nested PCR, and real-time PCR assays, techniques based on the amplification of different genes with variable sensitivity, have been previously used to detect E. canis in dogs (McBride et al, 1996;Stich et al, 2002;Doyle et al, 2005;Kledmanee et al, 2009;Nakaghi et al, 2010;Peleg et al, 2010;Cardozo et al, 2011). The 16S rRNA nested PCR assay is the most common assay used in the detection of E. canis; however, a nested PCR assay for the detection of the E. canis p30 gene has been recently shown to be more sensitive (Stich et al, 2002).…”