TY - JOUR AU - Souza, Aline Moreira AU - Almosny, Nadia Regina Pereira AU - Favacho, Alexsandra Rodrigues Mendonça AU - Almeida, Daniele Nunes Pereira AU - Ferreira, Renata Fernandes AU - Ferreira, Eliane Oliveira AU - Moreira, Namir Santos AU - Lemos, Elba Regina Sampaio PY - 2017/09/05 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Bartonella spp. and hematological changes in privately owned domestic cats from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Bartonella spp. in cats from Rio de Janeiro JF - The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries JA - J Infect Dev Ctries VL - 11 IS - 08 SE - Original Articles DO - 10.3855/jidc.8152 UR - https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/31085819 SP - 591-596 AB - <p>Introduction: <em>Bartonella</em> infection in cats can represent a risk to owners, particularly today when considering the increase in cat populations and their role in human bartonellosis epidemiology. In the present study, we aimed to detect <em>Bartonella </em>spp. in blood samples from 163 asymptomatic privately-owned cats from the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil by using a conventional PCR test and also to evaluate the association between <em>Bartonella </em>spp. and hematological changes in positive cats.</p><p>Methodology: PCR assays were performed targeting the <em>Bartonella</em> spp heat shock protein (<em>htr</em>A) gene and complete blood counts were also performed in all samples. Positive PCR samples were confirmed by the presence of two genes, citrate synthase (<em>gltA</em>) and RNA polymerase beta-subunit-encoding (<em>rpoB</em>).</p><p>Results: A total of 74.85% (122/163) of the tested cats were positive for <em>Bartonella</em> spp and partial sequencing confirmed to be <em>B. henselae</em>. All hematological findings from the 163 cats tested (PCR-positive and negative), presented normal limits.</p><p>Conclusions: This study demonstrates that <em>B. henselae</em> is present in almost 75% asymptomatic privately-owned domestic cats in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. Our results also show that hematological findings in <em>Bartonella</em> spp. infected cats are uncommon. In this scenario, the use of PCR as a diagnostic tool in feline <em>Bartonella</em> infections should be considered. Finally, these results also demonstrate the potential risk of <em>Bartonella </em>spp. infection in the human population of the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil.</p> ER -