Survey of vector-borne agents in feral cats and first report of Babesia gibsoni in cats on St Kitts, West Indies
| Autor: | Silvia Marchi, Patrick Kelly, Jilei Zhang, Jing Li, Liza S. Köster, Gillian Carmichael Branford, Chengming Wang, Michel Vandenplas, Ke Huang |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
040301 veterinary sciences
Ehrlichia canis West Indies animal diseases 030231 tropical medicine Rickettsia rickettsii Ehrlichia Antibodies Protozoan Babesia Animals Wild Disease Vectors Cat Diseases Polymerase Chain Reaction 0403 veterinary science 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Babesiosis parasitic diseases Animals Rickettsia Fluorescent Antibody Technique Indirect Phylogeny lcsh:Veterinary medicine CATS General Veterinary biology Cat 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences General Medicine Environmental Exposure DNA Protozoan biology.organism_classification bacterial infections and mycoses Virology Spotted fever Canis Cross-Sectional Studies Vector-borne Cats lcsh:SF600-1100 bacteria Research Article |
| Zdroj: | BMC Veterinary Research BMC Veterinary Research, Vol 13, Iss 1, Pp 1-6 (2017) |
| ISSN: | 1746-6148 |
| Popis: | Background: As there is little data on vector-borne diseases of cats in the Caribbean region and even around the\ud world, we tested feral cats from St Kitts by PCR to detect infections with Babesia, Ehrlichia and spotted fever group\ud Rickettsia (SFGR) and surveyed them for antibodies to Rickettsia rickettsii and Ehrlichia canis.\ud Results: Whole blood was collected from apparently healthy feral cats during spay/ neuter campaigns on St Kitts in\ud 2011 (N = 68) and 2014 (N = 52). Sera from the 52 cats from 2014 were used to detect antibodies to Ehrlichia canis\ud and Rickettsia rickettsii using indirect fluorescent antibody tests and DNA extracted from whole blood of a total of\ud 119 cats (68 from 2011, and 51 from 2014) was used for PCRs for Babesia, Ehrlichia and Rickettsia. We could not\ud amplify DNA of SFG Rickettsia in any of the samples but found DNA of E. canis in 5% (6/119), Babesia vogeli in 13%\ud (15/119), Babesia gibsoni in 4% (5/119), mixed infections with B. gibsoni and B. vogeli in 3% (3/119), and a poorly\ud characterized Babesia sp. in 1% (1/119). Overall, 10% of the 52 cats we tested by IFA for E. canis were positive while\ud 42% we tested by indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) for R. rickettsii antigens were positive.\ud Conclusions: Our study provides the first evidence that cats can be infected with B. gibsoni and also indicates that\ud cats in the Caribbean may be commonly exposed to other vector-borne agents including SFGR, E. canis and B.\ud vogeli. Animal health workers should be alerted to the possibility of clinical infections in their patients while public\ud health workers should be alerted to the possibility that zoonotic SFGR are likely circulating in the region. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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