Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Detecting feline haemoplasma infection in Australian cats with PCR
By Tasker, S et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2004·Department of Clinical Veterinary Science, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Diagnosis of feline haemoplasma infection in Australian cats using a real-time PCR assay.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of 147 cats in Sydney, Australia, were tested for a blood infection called feline haemoplasma, which can cause anemia. Out of these cats, 34 were found to have one type of the infection, while 6 had another type, and 1 had both. The study showed that older male cats that were not purebred were more likely to be infected, especially if they had lower red blood cell counts. This research highlights the presence of these infections in cats and the effectiveness of a specific testing method to identify them.
People also search for: cat blood infection symptoms · feline haemoplasma treatment · anemia in older cats
Abstract
A total of 147 cats from the Sydney area of Australia that had blood samples submitted to veterinary laboratories were tested using a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay able to detect and distinguish the two feline haemoplasma species. This sample number included two cats diagnosed with feline haemoplasma infection by routine blood smear examination. Statistical analysis was performed to evaluate associations between haemoplasma infection, age, sex, breed, haematocrit (HCT) values and anaemia status. One hundred and six cats (72.1%) were negative. Thirty-four cats (23.1%) were positive for 'Candidatus M. haemominutum', six cats (4.1%) were positive for M. haemofelis and one cat (0.7%) was positive for both species. Older, male, non-pedigree cats, with lower HCT values were more likely to be infected with 'Candidatus M. haemominutum'. Significant inverse correlation was found between the amount of M. haemofelis DNA present in the blood and the HCT value. This report documents the existence of, and prevalence of, both haemoplasma species in a sample of cats in Australia and is the first to use quantitative real-time PCR in a prevalence study for haemoplasma infection.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15546766/