Department of Veterinary Pathology, Freie Universitaet Berlin, Robert-von-Ostertag-Strasse 15, 14163 Berlin, Germany.
J Clin Microbiol. 2010 Sep;48(9):3295-300. doi: 10.1128/JCM.00750-10. Epub 2010 Jul 7.
Domestic cats serve as the reservoir hosts of Bartonella henselae and may develop mild clinical symptoms or none after experimental infection. In humans, B. henselae infection can result in self-limiting cat scratch disease. However, immunocompromised patients may suffer from more-severe courses of infection or may even develop the potentially lethal disease bacillary angiomatosis. It was reasoned that cats with immunocompromising viral infections may react similarly to B. henselae infection. The aim of our study was to investigate the influence of the most important viruses known to cause immunosuppression in cats-Feline leukemia virus (FeLV), Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), and Feline panleukopenia virus (FPV)-on natural B. henselae infection in cats. Accordingly, 142 cats from animal shelters were necropsied and tested for B. henselae and concurrent infections with FeLV, FIV, or FPV by PCR and immunohistochemistry. A significant association was found between B. henselae and FeLV infections (P = 0.00028), but not between B. henselae and FIV (P = 1.0) or FPV (P = 0.756) infection, age (P = 0.392), or gender (P = 0.126). The results suggest that susceptibility to B. henselae infection is higher in cats with concurrent FeLV infections, regardless of whether the infection is latent or progressive. Histopathology and immunohistochemistry for B. henselae failed to identify lesions that could be attributed specifically to B. henselae infection. We conclude that the course of natural B. henselae infection in cats does not seem to be influenced by immunosuppressive viral infections in general but that latent FeLV infection may predispose cats to B. henselae infection or persistence.
家猫是巴尔通体属亨氏杆菌的储存宿主，在实验感染后可能会出现轻微的临床症状或无症状。在人类中，巴尔通体属亨氏杆菌感染可导致自限性猫抓病。然而，免疫功能低下的患者可能会出现更严重的感染过程，甚至可能患上潜在致命的疾病杆菌性血管瘤病。因此，人们认为患有免疫抑制性病毒感染的猫可能会对巴尔通体属亨氏杆菌感染产生类似的反应。本研究的目的是研究猫中已知的最重要的导致免疫抑制的病毒（猫白血病病毒（FeLV）、猫免疫缺陷病毒（FIV）和猫泛白细胞减少症病毒（FPV））对猫自然巴尔通体属亨氏杆菌感染的影响。因此，对来自动物收容所的 142 只猫进行尸检，并通过 PCR 和免疫组织化学方法检测巴尔通体属亨氏杆菌以及与 FeLV、FIV 或 FPV 的并发感染。发现巴尔通体属亨氏杆菌与 FeLV 感染之间存在显著关联（P = 0.00028），但与 FIV（P = 1.0）或 FPV（P = 0.756）感染、年龄（P = 0.392）或性别（P = 0.126）无关。结果表明，患有潜伏或进展性 FeLV 感染的猫对巴尔通体属亨氏杆菌感染的易感性更高。巴尔通体属亨氏杆菌的组织病理学和免疫组织化学检查未能确定可归因于巴尔通体属亨氏杆菌感染的特定病变。我们得出结论，自然巴尔通体属亨氏杆菌感染在猫中的病程似乎不受一般免疫抑制性病毒感染的影响，但潜伏性 FeLV 感染可能使猫易感染巴尔通体属亨氏杆菌或持续感染。
