6533b824fe1ef96bd1280a4b

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Serological and Molecular Evidence of Bartonella henselae in Stray Cats from Southern Italy

Domenico VicariAnnalisa GuercioAlessandra TorinaSantina Di BellaValeria BlandaFrancesca ArcuriFrancesco SantangeloFrancesca GrippiPaola GalluzzoSonia Sciortino

subject

0301 basic medicineMicrobiology (medical)040301 veterinary sciencesQH301-705.5Microbiologylaw.inventionSerology<i>Bartonella henselae</i>0403 veterinary science03 medical and health scienceslawVirologySeroprevalenceBiology (General)PathogenPolymerase chain reactionBartonella henselaeCATSbiologyseroprevalencecats04 agricultural and veterinary sciencesbiology.organism_classificationVirology030104 developmental biologyReal-time polymerase chain reactionbiology.proteinAntibodyreal-time PCR

description

Bartonella henselae is a slow growing and facultative intracellular pathogen mainly transmitted by arthropod vectors adapted to domestic and wild mammalian reservoir hosts. Since cats are the major source of the B. henselae infection, this study aimed to evaluate the seroprevalence and the DNA presence in randomly sampled stray cats. Blood samples of 429 cats were collected from shelter of Palermo (Southern Italy) and sera and whole blood were analyzed for the presence of antibodies against B. henselae by indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), respectively. Two hundred and three sera (47.3%) were positive to IFA and 148 blood samples (34.5%) to real-time PCR. Based on serological results, the evaluation of the potential risk factors (sex, age, coat color) was carried out. The multivariate analysis indicated that cats more than 12 months old were more likely to be seropositive to B. henselae than cats B. henselae in stray cats in Southern Italy.

yearjournalcountryeditionlanguage
2021-04-01Microorganisms
10.3390/microorganisms9050979https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/9/5/979