engleski

Postmortal and molecular research of bacterial and protozoal vector-borne diseases of cats and dogs

Vector-borne diseases (VBD) present a global health problem of cats and dogs. Pathogenicity of VBD-causing pathogens is usually evaluated in clinical studies, while lesions caused by pathogens are rarely described. This study investigated VBD-causing pathogens in cats and dogs from Croatia, with determination of pathogen involvement in lethal outcome of the host. Dead anemic, icteric, thrombocytopenic animals and/or animals infested with ticks/fleas were necropsied and samples from parenchymal organs were collected for histologic and molecular investigation. All of the samples were screened by using conventional PCR for the presence of Anaplasma/Ehrlichia, Babesia/Theileria, Bartonella, Cytauxzoon, Hepatozoon, haemotropic Mycoplasma and Rickettsia DNA. In cats, pathogens were detected in 29 of 37 animals (78%): Candidatus Mycoplasma haematoparvum (20 cats), Can. M. haemominutum (8), Babesia canis (5), Can. M. turicensis (3), Mycoplasma haemofelis (3) and Bartonella clarridgeiae (1), with co- infections in 11 cats. Single or multiple haemotropic Mycoplasma infection was associated with lethal outcome in 3 of the cats due to circulatory collapse and hypoxia, and with non- lethal anemia in 4 additional cats. From 64 analysed dogs, 30 (47%) harboured pathogens: B. canis (25 dogs), Hepatozoon canis (7), M. fastidiosum (2) and Can. M. haematoparvum (1), with co-infections in 5 dogs. The only pathogen that caused lesions in the infected dogs was B. canis, leading to death in 17 dogs due to severe haemolytic crisis with septic shock. None of the other detected pathogens caused death or detectable lesions. Cats in Croatia are mostly infected by flea- borne pathogens, namely haemotropic Mycoplasma, rarely causing lethal disease, even in co- infections. Dogs are mostly infected by tick- borne pathogens. B. canis was the only pathogen able to cause multi-systemic, lethal disease, but it was also found in dogs without any lesions, indicating the possibility of a subclinical infection.

vector-borne disease ; dog ; cat ; Babesia canis ; hemoplasma ; PCR

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