Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Domestic cat hepadnavirus found in blood sample from Japan cat
By Takahashi, Kazuki et al.·Published in The Journal of veterinary medical science·2022·Department of Veterinary Science, Japan·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Identification of domestic cat hepadnavirus from a cat blood sample in Japan.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A 17-year-old female cat in Japan had a blood test that showed high levels of a liver enzyme, which can indicate liver problems. Researchers found that this cat was infected with a newly identified virus called domestic cat hepadnavirus (DCH), which is related to the hepatitis B virus in humans. This was the only positive case out of 139 samples tested, suggesting that DCH is rare in cats in Japan. More studies are needed to understand how this virus affects cats' liver health and its potential risks.
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Abstract
The hepatitis B virus (Hepadnaviridae) induces chronic hepatitis and hepatic cancer in humans. A novel domestic cat hepadnavirus (DCH) was recently identified in several countries, however, the DCH infection status of cats in Japan is unknown. Therefore, we investigated the DCH infection rate of 139 cat samples collected in Japan. We identified one positive blood sample (0.78%) from a 17-year-old female cat with chronically elevated alanine aminotransferase. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that the DCH strain identified in this study is genetically different from strains in other countries. Further investigations are required to elucidate the evolution of DCH and the impact of DCH infection on hepatic diseases in domestic cats.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35321970/