Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How common is Rickettsia felis in fleas on UK cats and dogs
By Abdullah, Swaid et al.·Published in Veterinary parasitology·2020·School of Biological Sciences, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: The prevalence of Rickettsia felis DNA in fleas collected from cats and dogs in the UK.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A survey in the UK found that 5.7% of fleas collected from cats and dogs tested positive for Rickettsia felis, a type of bacteria that can cause illness. The study involved examining 812 cats and 662 dogs across 326 veterinary practices, focusing on fleas found on these pets. Most of the positive samples came from cat fleas, but one dog flea also tested positive. This information is important for pet owners to be aware of, as Rickettsia felis can potentially affect the health of their pets.
People also search for: cat fleas Rickettsia felis · dog flea infection · symptoms of flea-borne illness in pets
Abstract
In a large-scale survey in the UK, recruited veterinary practices were asked to inspect client-ownedcats and dogs, selected at random between April and June 2018, following a standardised flea inspection protocol. A total of 326 veterinary practices participated and 812 cats and 662 dogs were examined during the 3-month period. Fleas were collected, identified to species level and fleas of the same species collected from a single animal were pooled together and treated as a single sample. A total of 470 pooled flea samples were screened by PCR and DNA sequence analysis for a subset of Rickettsia species including R. felis and R. typhi. On analysis, 27 (5.7%) of the pooled flea samples were positive for R. felis DNA; these were predominantly in the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis, but one dog flea, Ctenocephalides canis was also positive for this pathogen.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32480031/