Epidemiological Survey of Tick-Borne Protozoal Infection in Iriomote Cats and Tsushima Leopard Cats in Japan

Morihiro Tateno
Takuma Nishio
Tomohide Matsuo
Masato Sakuma
Nozomi Nakanishi
Masako Izawa
Yumiko Asari
Maki Okamura
Takako Shimokawa Miyama
Asuka Setoguchi
Yasuyuki Endo

This epidemiological survey was conducted to determine the prevalence of Hepatozoon, Babesia and Theileria infection in the Iriomote cat (IC) and the Tsushima leopard cat (TLC). Blood samples from 43 ICs and 14 TLCs were collected between November 2002 and January 2012. Polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing analyses detected a Hepatozoon fells infection prevalence of 72.0% (31/43 cats) and 100% (14/14 cats) in ICs and TLCs, respectively. The degree of Hepatozoon parasitemia observed on blood smears ranged from 0.1 to 4.7%. However, no cases had obvious clinical signs of hepatozoonosis. Neither Babesia- nor Theileria-infected wildcats were detected in this study.

JOURNAL OF VETERINARY MEDICAL SCIENCE

JAPAN SOC VET SCI

75

7

985

989

10.1292/jvms.13-0015

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23449464
https://doi.org/10.1292/jvms.13-0015
https://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=JSTA_CEL&SrcApp=J_Gate_JST&DestLinkType=FullRecord&KeyUT=WOS:000330268400022&DestApp=WOS_CPL