Prevalence of Bartonella species in shelter cats and their ectoparasites in southeastern Brazil.
Juliana Macedo RaimundoAndresa GuimarãesGleice Marques AmaroAline Tonussi da SilvaCaio Junior Balduino Coutinho RodriguesHuarrisson Azevedo SantosElba Regina Sampaio de LemosAlexsandra Rodrigues de Mendonça FavachoCristiane Divan BaldaniPublished in: Revista brasileira de parasitologia veterinaria = Brazilian journal of veterinary parasitology : Orgao Oficial do Colegio Brasileiro de Parasitologia Veterinaria (2022)
Feline Bartonella can be transmitted to humans through cat scratches or bites, and between cats, by the flea Ctenocephalides felis. The study was carried out in order to investigate the occurrence of Bartonella DNA in cats living in shelters and their ectoparasites and the relationship between the infection status of cats and ectoparasites they host. Bartonella DNA was detected in 47.8% of the cat blood samples, 18.3% of C. felis fleas, 13.3% of flea egg pools and 12.5% of lice pools. B. henselae and B. clarridgeiae DNA were detected in cat fleas, while B. henselae, B. clarridgeiae and B. koehlerae were found in blood samples from bacteremic cats. Cats infested by positive ectoparasites showed approximately twice the odds of being infected. Our results indicate that shelter cats have high prevalence of Bartonella species that are known to be human pathogens. This highlights the importance of controlling infestations by ectoparasites to avoid cat and human infection.