RESUMEN
CASE SERIES SUMMARY: This case series describes six cases involving seven cats naturally infected with Cytauxzoon felis in Indiana, USA. Medical records were retrospectively reviewed and all available information on signalment, history, clinical and diagnostic findings, treatment, outcome and pathology was reported. Cats infected with C felis were domestic shorthairs, were aged between 2 and 9 years and all but one of the cats were male. The seven infected cats originated from five counties in southwestern Indiana. Six of seven cats were found to have acute cytauxzoonosis based on clinical signs, gross pathologic lesions, observation of C felis in tissues and/or detection of C felis DNA. One cat was identified as a subclinical survivor cat with no known clinical history of cytauxzoonosis. RELEVANCE AND NOVEL INFORMATION: The reported cases are the first confirmed reports of acute and chronic cytauxzoonosis in cats from Indiana and document an expansion in the range of C felis. Veterinary practitioners in Indiana should consider infection with C felis as a differential diagnosis for cats that present with fever, inappetence, lethargy, depression, dehydration, dyspnea, hemolytic crisis, anorexia or icterus. Administration of approved acaricides to cats currently offers the best protection and control against C felis infection.
Asunto(s)
Enfermedades de los Gatos , Piroplasmida , Infecciones Protozoarias en Animales , Animales , Gatos , Femenino , Masculino , Enfermedades de los Gatos/parasitología , Enfermedades de los Gatos/diagnóstico , Enfermedades de los Gatos/tratamiento farmacológico , Indiana/epidemiología , Piroplasmida/aislamiento & purificación , Piroplasmida/genética , Infecciones Protozoarias en Animales/diagnóstico , Infecciones Protozoarias en Animales/parasitología , Infecciones Protozoarias en Animales/epidemiología , Infecciones Protozoarias en Animales/tratamiento farmacológico , Estudios RetrospectivosRESUMEN
Cytauxzoon felis is a hematoprotozoan parasite with a complex life cycle involving a tick-vector and a mammalian host. The mammalian hosts are all felidae but in the bobcat reservoir host, the parasite typically causes only a brief, self-resolving illness followed by a prolonged subclinical infection. In domestic cats, however, infection often leads to an acute febrile illness characterized by severe morbidity and mortality. Diagnosis is based on microscopic identification of parasites or molecular testing. Treatment for ill cats is expensive, difficult, and often unsuccessful. Prevention is quite possible and depends on avoidance of feeding by vector ticks.