Detection of Leishmania major and Leishmania tropica in domestic cats in the Ege Region of Turkey
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Date
2015
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Abstract
Leishmaniosis is a group of diseases caused by different species of Leishmania parasites in mammalian species. The aim of the present study was to investigate the presence of Leishmania spp. DNA in cats using real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays targeting internal transcribed spacer (ITS1) and heat-shock protein 70 gene (Hsp70) regions with Leishmania species-specific primers and probes. Blood samples were collected from 147 cats (73 female; 74 male) in the endemic regions for zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis in the western provinces of Turkey and analyzed using two RT-PCR assays. Additionally, Hsp70 RT-PCR products were sequenced. ELISA assays for feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and feline leukemia virus (FeLV) were also carried out for 145 of the 147 samples.Overall, 13/147 (8.84%) cats were positive for Leishmania by RT-PCR (4 L. major and 9 L. tropica). FIV and FeLV antibody and/or antigen was detected in 4 and 5 cats among Leishmania DNA positives, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to investigate and report the presence of L. major and L. tropica infections in a large group of domestic cats in Turkey. The results obtained indicate that species identification of Leishmania is essential for epidemiological understanding and that clinical signs alone are not indicative for leishmaniosis in cats, as it is in dogs. This study suggests that extensive research should be carried out in cat populations in order to fully understand the role of cats in the epidemiology of the disease. © 2015 Elsevier B.V.
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Keywords
Animals , Antibodies, Viral , Cat Diseases , Cats , Coinfection , Female , Immunodeficiency Virus, Feline , Leishmania major , Leishmania tropica , Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous , Lentivirus Infections , Leukemia Virus, Feline , Male , Retroviridae Infections , Tumor Virus Infections , Turkey , DNA , heat shock protein 70 , internal transcribed spacer 1 , virus antibody , Article , blood sampling , cat disease , controlled study , domestic cat , enzyme linked immunosorbent assay , Feline immunodeficiency virus , Feline leukemia virus , female , gene , gene sequence , Hsp70 gene , ITS1 gene , Leishmania major , Leishmania tropica , leishmaniasis , male , molecular probe , nonhuman , nucleotide sequence , parasite identification , prevalence , real time polymerase chain reaction , Turkey (republic) , animal , blood , cat , Cat Diseases , complication , isolation and purification , Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous , Lentivirus Infections , mixed infection , parasitology , Retroviridae Infections , Tumor Virus Infections , Turkey , veterinary , virology