Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Tropical keratopathy causing Florida spots in cats on St Kitts
By Bolfa, Pompei et al.·Published in Veterinary pathology·2018·1 Department of Biomedical Sciences·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Tropical Keratopathy (Florida Spots) in Cats.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of cats on St. Kitts showed signs of eye problems known as tropical keratopathy, or "Florida spots," which can cause changes in the cornea. These spots were characterized by thickening and thinning of the cornea, but there was no inflammation or infection present. Interestingly, the lesions remained stable over time, and only one cat showed improvement after being adopted and moved to an area where these spots are not common. While the condition is not harmful, it can be concerning for pet owners who notice these changes in their cat's eyes.
People also search for: cat eye problems Florida spots · tropical keratopathy in cats · cat cornea changes treatment
Abstract
The authors used microscopy and synchrotron-based small-angle X-ray scattering analysis (SAXS) to describe lesions macroscopically typical of tropical keratopathy ("Florida spots") from 6 cats on St Kitts. Microscopically, there were varying degrees of epithelial hyperplasia and thinning of the cornea (by 4% to 18%) due to loss of corneal stroma associated with dense accumulations of collagen in the superficial stroma. The collagen fibrils in lesions were wider and had more variable diameters (39.5 ± 5.0 nm, mean ± SD) than in normal corneas (25.9 ± 3.6 nm; P < .01). There were occasional vacuoles (<1 μm) in the corneal epithelial basement membrane but no evidence of inflammation, edema, stromal neovascularization, fibrosis, acid-fast organisms, or structures suggestive of a fungal organism. SAXS analysis showed collagen fibril diameters and variation in size were greater in stroma containing the lesions compared to normal corneas (48.8 ± 4.5 nm vs 35.5 ± 2.6; P < .05). The d-spacing of collagen in the stroma of lesions and normal corneas was the same, but the average orientation index of collagen in lesions was greater (0.428 ± 0.08 vs 0.285 ± 0.03; P < .05). A survey revealed Florida spots lesions were static over time and became less obvious in only 1 of 6 affected cats adopted on St Kitts and taken to areas in the US where lesions are not reported. An anterior stromal collagen disorder with various degrees of epithelial hyperplasia is the pathologic hallmark of lesions clinically identical to Florida spots in cats from St Kitts.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30071782/