Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Acute phase protein changes in cats with Hepatozoon felis and Babesia
By Vilhena, Hugo et al.·Published in Veterinary clinical pathology·2017·Department of Veterinary Medicine·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Acute phase proteins response in cats naturally infected with Hepatozoon felis and Babesia vogeli.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of cats infected with Hepatozoon felis and Babesia vogeli showed changes in certain proteins in their blood that can indicate illness. In these cats, levels of haptoglobin (Hp) were higher, while paraoxonase-1 (PON1) levels were lower compared to healthy cats. Symptomatic cats had even higher levels of Hp and other proteins than those without symptoms. These findings suggest that measuring these proteins could help veterinarians determine if a cat is healthy or infected, even if the cat doesn’t show obvious signs of illness.
People also search for: cat Hepatozoon felis symptoms · Babesia vogeli treatment in cats · cat blood test results explained
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The measurement of acute phase proteins (APP) is being increasingly used in human and veterinary medicine in diagnosis, prognosis, treatment monitoring, and in general health screening. However, information about the APP response in cats infected with agents of vector-borne diseases is lacking. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to investigate the concentrations of serum amyloid A (SAA), haptoglobin (Hp), and paraoxonase-1 (PON1) in cats naturally infected with Hepatozoon felis and Babesia vogeli. METHODS: Serum concentrations of SAA, Hp, and PON1 were determined in 19 cats naturally infected with H felis and in 11 cats naturally infected with B vogeli, and compared to concentrations in 10 healthy control cats. RESULTS: Serum Hp concentrations were significantly increased, and PON1 concentrations significantly decreased in symptomatic and asymptomatic cats infected with H felis and B vogeli when compared with healthy noninfected cats. In the H felis-infected population, concentrations of SAA and Hp were significantly increased in symptomatic cats when compared with asymptomatic animals. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated differences in APP concentrations in cats infected with H felis and B vogeli. Therefore, Hp and PON1 concentrations could be helpful in discriminating healthy cats from cats with asymptomatic or symptomatic infection by these agents.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28160310/