engleski

Postmortal diagnostics of feline verminous pneumonia

Verminous pneumonias of cats are chronic pneumonias caused by nematodes of the Aelurostrongylus and Troglostrongylus genus. Data on the actual incidence of this feline disease worldwide and in Croatia are dubious. The morphological similarities of the larvae of the Troglostrongylus spp. and A. abstrusus nematodes render differentiating these species difficult, therefore postmortal diagnostic protocols including genotyping have been used for discrimination between species. The causal agents of verminous pneumonia in six cats were subjected to pathological, parasitological and molecular investigation for identification. Data obtained on necropsy, postmortal cytological and histopathological examination were analysed and compared with results of parasitological strogylide larva detection in lung juice sediment and sediment acquired via artificial digestion of lung tissue. Sequencing of obtained larva and directly from granulomatous tissue was performed from amplified PCR products of the second internal transcribed spacer region (ITS-2) and 18S rRNA gene. In all cats verminous pneumonia was confirmed grossly and histologically. Postmortal cytology, lung juice and artificial digestion sediment were positive in 4 cats. DNA of nematodes was amplified from all lungs. All obtained sequences confirmed the presence of only A. abstrusus. In the current study we have genetically confirmed for the first time A. abstrusus in Croatia, and absence of Troglostrongylus spp. Artificial digestion seems to be the appropriate method for detection of larvae from the granulomatous lesions in lungs, since larval morphology is well preserved and allows morphologic determination. Also it is possible to examine large quantities of lung tissue which allows detection of weak infections. Lung juice seems to be the simplest method for larval detection in granulomatous tissue and suitable for genotyping. Due to efficacy of all protocols used in this study we can conclude that they can be suitable for investigation of verminous pneumonias in other animal species.

Verminous pneumonia ; Aelurostrongylus abstrusus ; Artificial digestion ; Genotyping ; Cytology ; Histology

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