Chi Xinyu, Fang Kexin, Koster Liza, Christie Jevan, Yao Chaoqun
Departments of Biomedical Sciences, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, P.O. Box 334, Basseterre 00265, Saint Kitts and Nevis.
Departments of One Health Center for Zoonoses and Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, P.O. Box 334, Basseterre 00265, Saint Kitts and Nevis.
Vet Sci. 2021 Jan 21;8(2):16. doi: 10.3390/vetsci8020016.
() is a cosmopolitan protozoan parasite that infects all warm-blooded species including humans. The definitive hosts of are felid vertebrates including the domestic cat. Domestic cats shed oocysts for approximately two weeks in their feces after the primary infection. It has been shown that feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) positive cats have a higher prevalence of and a higher titer of antibodies to than those of FIV-negative cats. The main purposes of this study were to determine FIV prevalence and to investigate the oocysts shedding in FIV-positive and FIV-negative feral cats on St. Kitts. Fecal samples were collected from feral cats while their FIV statues were determined using a commercial SNAP kit. Total fecal DNA of each cat was tested for the presence of DNA using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) consistently detecting one genome equivalent. A FIV-positive status was detected in 18 of 105 (17.1%, 95% confidence interval (CI): 9.9%-24.3%) feral cats sampled. Furthermore, males were three times more likely to be FIV positive than females ( = 0.017) with an odds ratio of 3.93 (95% CI: 1.20-12.89). Adults were found to have at least twice the prevalence of FIV compared to cats younger than one year of age ( = 0.056) with an odds ratio of 3.07 (95% CI: 0.94-10.00). DNA was not detected in the feces of any of the 18 FIV-positive (95% CI: 0%-0.18%) and 87 FIV-negative cats (95% CI: 0%-0.04%). A follow-up study with a much bigger sample size is needed to prove or disprove the hypothesis that FIV-positive cats have a higher prevalence of shedding oocysts than FIV-negative cats.
（）是一种世界性的原生动物寄生虫，可感染包括人类在内的所有温血动物。其终末宿主是包括家猫在内的猫科脊椎动物。家猫在初次感染后，会在粪便中排出卵囊约两周时间。研究表明，感染猫免疫缺陷病毒（FIV）的猫比未感染FIV的猫对（）的感染率更高且抗体滴度更高。本研究的主要目的是确定圣基茨岛野生猫中FIV的感染率，并调查FIV阳性和FIV阴性野生猫的卵囊排出情况。从野生猫采集粪便样本，同时使用商用SNAP试剂盒确定它们的FIV状态。使用聚合酶链反应（PCR）检测每只猫的粪便总DNA中是否存在（）DNA，该方法可始终检测到一个基因组当量。在105只采样的野生猫中，有18只检测为FIV阳性（17.1%，95%置信区间（CI）：9.9%-24.3%）。此外，雄性FIV阳性的可能性是雌性的三倍（P = 0.017），优势比为3.93（95%CI：1.20-12.89）。发现成年猫的FIV感染率至少是一岁以下猫的两倍（P = 0.056），优势比为3.07（95%CI：0.94-10.00）。在18只FIV阳性猫（95%CI：0%-0.18%）和87只FIV阴性猫的粪便中均未检测到（）DNA。需要进行一项样本量更大的后续研究，以证实或反驳FIV阳性猫比FIV阴性猫排出（）卵囊的感染率更高这一假设。
