Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How Mycoplasma hemofelis Bacteria Affect Cat Blood Tests
By Guerra, Thais Rodrigues et al.·Published in Topics in companion animal medicine·2022·Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Brazil·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Implications of Mycoplasma hemofelis Bacterial Load on the Hematological Parameters of Naturally Infected Cats.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of cats was tested for a bacterial infection called Mycoplasma hemofelis, which can cause anemia and other health issues. Out of 147 cats examined, about 29% had the bacteria present in their blood. Interestingly, female cats were found to be more likely to be infected than males. However, the study found no clear link between the amount of bacteria and any noticeable health problems in the cats. This suggests that while the infection is common, it may not always lead to serious symptoms.
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Abstract
Mycoplasma hemofelis is the most pathogenic hemoplasma species that affect cats. M. hemofelis may cause an acute infection that leads to hemolytic anaemia. The objective of this study was to detect and to quantify the load of M. hemofelis in cats by conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and by quantitative PCR (qPCR) and to describe the possible hematological changes. M. hemofelis DNA was detected in 28.6% of the randomly selected cats (42 of 147) attended at the Veterinary Hospital of the Federal University of Mato Grosso, Brazil. The agreement between conventional PCR and qPCR was substantive (k 0.6). Females were twice as likely to acquire infection as males (odds ratio, 2.31). There was no statistically significant association (P > .05) and little/no correlation between the hematological parameters and the average of bacterial load. The results indicate that M. hemofelis infection is not related to clinical signs and bacterial blood load in cats. The agreement between conventional and quantitative PCR made it possible to detect infection by M. hemofelis in a larger number of cats.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34710634/