Journal
JOURNAL OF PARASITOLOGY
Volume 107, Issue 5, Pages 676-678Publisher
ALLEN PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1645/19-159
Keywords
Piroplasms; Cytauxzoon felis; Brazil; Feline infectious diseases; Healthy cats; Molecular diagnosis; Hematology
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
A study has shown that healthy cats may carry piroplasmids associated with tick-borne parasitic protozoa in their blood, and these can be differentiated from other species through DNA analysis, opening up the potential for further research on feline populations in Brazil.
Feline cytauxzoonosis is a disease caused by Cytauxzoon felis, a protozoan that infects the red blood cells and macrophages. It is responsible for an acute and often fatal disease in domestic cats. The purpose of this study was to investigate the occurrence of C. felis infections in healthy cats. Piroplasm forms were seen in the erythrocytes of 2 cats, and C. felis DNA was identified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in one of them. The results demonstrate that erythrocytic piroplasmids associated with tick-borne parasitic protozoa may be found circulating in the blood of healthy cats in Rio de Janeiro. These can be differentiated from the morphologically similar forms of species such as Babesia by analysis of DNA, thereby demonstrating the potential for further studies of feline populations in Brazil.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available