KeyScreen® GI Parasite PCR | Antech Diagnostics

Diagnostics

KeyScreen™ GI Parasite PCR

The new standard in parasite diagnostics.

Parasites are adapting. O&P has not.

Screening for GI parasites hasn’t changed much in decades. While O&P (ova and parasites) testing has its strengths, it also has significant weaknesses, relying heavily on visual identification. And ELISA testing has known inherent limitations. Further, there’s no guarantee that the parasites (or its eggs) will be present even in an adequately sized sample. Recent efforts to evolve parasite diagnostics still prove time consuming and suffer from inaccuracies, sample limitations, and narrowly focused tests.

KeyScreen has forever changed GI parasite testing.

Bringing the power of PCR to routine parasite screening.

KeyScreen™ GI Parasite PCR helps find more GI parasites so you can treat your patients with precision, speed, and confidence.

Screen for 20 intestinal parasites
Detect 2x more infections¹ when compared to in-clinic fecal flotations (O&P)
Detect benzimidazole resistance in hookworms
Determine the zoonotic potential of Giardia

The Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC)² recommends testing for gastrointestinal parasites at least four times in the first year of life for puppies and kittens and at least two times per year in adult dogs and cats, depending on patient health and lifestyle factors.

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KeyScreen is helping veterinarians experience better health outcomes for their patients and pet owners.

“The Antech KeyScreen™ test has completely changed how we think about parasites and treatment. With this test, we are detecting more parasite positives than ever before — especially when compared to the limitations of running a fecal float. Now, we can better help clients understand personal health risks by differentiating Baylisascaris procyonis and the different strains of Giardia. The innovation of this test has changed the profile of parasites we are seeing — we now have a better ability to diagnose them. We now know that we do, in fact, have zoonotic Giardia in our population. We have also been finding parasites that we have never seen in a clinic before, like trichuris vulpis and cryptosporidium. KeyScreen has significantly improved our ability to service clients by providing a better solution to parasite testing and the subsequent treatment.”
Robert Burns, DVM, Darlington Veterinary Hospital

KeyScreen has completely changed our practice’s approach to parasite diagnostics. I didn’t realize the burdens and shortcomings of our former GI parasite testing process until we started using KeyScreen. The impact of this test’s accuracy, precision, and speed stretches far beyond the initial screening diagnosis. KeyScreen has allowed us to confidently arrive at treatment options for pet owners, faster, and the workflow alone has freed up a significant amount of time for my staff.
Rhonda Daniels, DVM – Animal Doctors of North Texas

KeyScreen™ GI Parasite PCR: Unlocking the key to wellness fecal screening.

KeyScreen GI Parasite PCR offers annual parasite screening that’s comprehensive and efficient for your practice — and accessible and affordable for pet owners. View this one-hour webinar to learn more.

KeyScreen Resources

KeyScreen GI Parasite PCR Algorithm

Your go-to guide for interpreting KeyScreen GI PCR panel results.

Download

KeyScreen GI Parasite Giardia Algorithm

Download the KeyScreen Giardia Algorithm to guide you through:

Fecal testing
Management/treatment
Persistent Giardia cases
Risk assessment for zoonotic potential

Download

KeyScreen™ GI Parasite PCR Hookworm Algorithm

Download

KeyScreen keeps you vigilant with evolving preventative treatment.

Paxton, a one-year-old boxer, was treated successfully for his steroid-responsive meningitis, but has re-presented white as a ghost. Follow the laboratory diagnostics to understand what happened, who or what was to blame, and why Paxton was not off the hook.

Listen to this Veterinary Podcast Episode Now

These parasites are hiding in your backyard.

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The New Standard for Intestinal Parasites Screening

Comprehensive Screening, One Small Sample Size

All that’s required is a single 0.15 g sample, which can be stored for 10 days with refrigeration.

Affordable, Fast, Accurate

KeyScreen GI Parasite PCR is affordable and offers next-day results for most North American practices, making it practical for routine screening and annual wellness exams.

More Reliable Than O&P Testing

As a molecular diagnostic test, KeyScreen GI Parasite PCR rapidly and accurately identifies the genetic material of a wide range of parasites from a small fecal sample. KeyScreen GI Parasite PCR detects 2x more infections¹ when compared to in-clinic fecal flotations (O&P) — even when O&P is done at a commercial veterinary reference lab.

Aligned with One Health Priorities and Antimicrobial Stewardship

According to the CDC, Giardia is the most common intestinal parasitic disease in the US, affecting more than one million people per year. Children, the elderly, and immunocompromised individuals are at much higher risk for Giardia infection and have higher infection rates, and infection rates tend to rise in late summer in the US.³

KeyScreen GI Parasite PCR, the most sensitive intestinal parasite screening panel in veterinary medicine, allows veterinarians to strengthen their commitment to One Health priorities — specifically, pharmacological stewardship and the responsible use of anthelmintic drugs — by delivering precise information about the type of infection present.

Leave the Fecals to Us

Performing fecals in-clinic is often a primary element of job dissatisfaction among technicians. And 94% of the clinicians surveyed in a study⁴ agreed that sending fecals to a reference laboratory produces more accurate results.

Send off a small sample and leave the fecals to us (and our network of 70+ North American laboratories) so you can get back to doing what you love most — caring for patients.

Information for Veterinarians

Start Using KeyScreen Today

Peer-Reviewed Studies on Parasite Resistance

For 2024: Publications peer-reviewed

Hook before you treat! Drug-resistant Hookworms in North America, January 2024, Leutenegger, Evason. TVP-NAVC. https://todaysveterinarypractice.com/parasitology/drug-resistant-hookworms-in-north-america/
Leutenegger CM, et al. Screening for the Ancylostoma caninum Benzimidazole resistance marker F167Y reveals widespread, geographic, seasonal, age and breed distribution in North America. February 2024, available online. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211320724000010
Evason M, DeBess E, Culwell N, Ogeer J, Culwell N, Leutenegger CM. Hookworm anthelmintic resistance: Novel fecal PCR Ancylostoma caninum benzimidazole resistance marker detection in a dog. JAAHA. March/April 2024. https://meridian.allenpress.com/jaaha/article-abstract/60/2/87/499140/Hookworm-Anthelmintic-Resistance-Novel-Fecal?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Evason MD, Peregrine AS, Jenkins EJ, Lozoya CE, Rund LL, Weese JS, Castro PDJ, Leutenegger CM. Emerging Echinococcus tapeworms: fecal PCR detection of Echinococcus multilocularis in 26 dogs from the United States and Canada (2022-2024). J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2024 Oct 16:1-5. doi: 10.2460/javma.24.07.0471. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39413817. https://avmajournals.avma.org/view/journals/javma/aop/javma.24.07.0471/javma.24.07.0471.xml

For 2023: Publications peer-reviewed

Leutenegger CM, et al. Comparative Study of a Broad qPCR Panel and Centrifugal Flotation for Detection of Gastrointestinal Parasites in Fecal Samples from Dogs and Cats in the United States. Parasites & Vectors. 2023
https://parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13071-023-05904-z
Leutenegger CM, et al. Emergence of Ancylostoma caninum parasites with the benzimidazole resistance F167Y polymorphism in the US dog population. Int. J. Parasitol. Drugs Drug Resist.2023;14:131-140. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211320723000015?via%3Dihub
Evason, MD, et al. Emergence of canine hookworm treatment resistance: Novel detection of Ancylostoma caninum anthelmintic resistance markers by fecal PCR in 11 dogs from Canada, Am J Vet Res (published online ahead of print 2023): https://doi.org/10.2460/ajvr.23.05.0116
Evason MD, et al. Novel molecular diagnostic (PCR) diagnosis and outcome of intestinal Echinococcus multilocularis in a dog from western Canada. JAVMA May 2023:1-3. https://avmajournals.avma.org/view/journals/javma/aop/javma.23.03.0179/javma.23.03.0179.xml

Abstracts- peer-reviewed:

Evason MD. Updates on emerging and evolving gastrointestinal parasites in dogs and cats, Evason. UK Companion Vet, November 2023. https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/abs/10.12968/coan.2023.0034
Leutenegger CM, et al. Frequency of intestinal parasites in dogs and cats identified by molecular diagnostics. ACVIM abstract, Philadelphia, June 2023.
Leutenegger CM, et al. Association of the novel benzimidazole resistance marker Q134H with F167Y in dogs with Ancylostoma caninum. ACVIM abstract, Philadelphia June 2023.
Leutenegger CM, Evason MD. ‘Hooking back’: Updates on GI parasite findings in dogs and cats from 2022. AAVP Proceedings, Lexington, June 2023.
Evason, et al. Performance of a molecular diagnostic as compared to routine centrifugal-flotation for fecal gastrointestinal parasite identification. ECVIM Barcelona 2023.

Product Information

U.S. Code

KeyScreen GI Parasite PCR Panel: T991

Canada Code

KeyScreen GI Parasite PCR Panel: CT991

Sample

0.15 grams feces

Turnaround

24 hours for most customers. 48 hours or less for all customers.

Diagnostics