Department of Tropical Medicine, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA.
Vector-Borne and Infectious Disease Research Center, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA.
Vet Res. 2021 Apr 6;52(1):53. doi: 10.1186/s13567-021-00923-z.
Trypanosoma cruzi is a zoonotic parasite endemic in the southern US and the Americas, which may frequently infect dogs, but limited information is available about infections in cats. We surveyed a convenience sample of 284 shelter cats from Southern Louisiana to evaluate T. cruzi infection using serological and PCR tests. Parasites from PCR positive cats were also genotyped by PCR and deep sequencing to assess their genetic diversity. We detected a seropositivity rate for T. cruzi of at least 7.3% (17/234), and 24.6% of cats (70/284) were PCR positive for the parasite. Seropositivity increased with cat age (R = 0.91, P = 0.011), corresponding to an incidence of 7.2% ± 1.3 per year, while PCR positivity decreased with age (R = 0.93, P = 0.007). Cats were predominantly infected with parasites from TcI and TcVI DTUs, and to a lesser extent from TcIV and TcV DTUs, in agreement with the circulation of these parasite DTUs in local transmission cycles. These results indicate that veterinarians should have a greater awareness of T. cruzi infection in pets and that it would be important to better evaluate the risk for spillover infections in humans.
克氏锥虫是一种流行于美国南部和美洲的动物源性寄生虫，可能经常感染狗，但有关猫感染的信息有限。我们调查了来自路易斯安那州南部的 284 只收容所猫的方便样本，使用血清学和 PCR 检测来评估克氏锥虫感染。从 PCR 阳性猫中分离的寄生虫也通过 PCR 和深度测序进行了基因分型，以评估其遗传多样性。我们检测到至少有 7.3%（17/234）的猫血清呈克氏锥虫阳性，24.6%（70/284）的猫对寄生虫的 PCR 检测呈阳性。血清阳性率随猫龄增加而增加（R=0.91，P=0.011），每年的发病率为 7.2%±1.3%，而 PCR 阳性率随年龄增加而降低（R=0.93，P=0.007）。猫主要感染来自 TcI 和 TcVI DTU 的寄生虫，其次是来自 TcIV 和 TcV DTU 的寄生虫，这与这些寄生虫 DTU 在当地传播周期中的循环情况一致。这些结果表明，兽医应该更加意识到宠物感染克氏锥虫的风险，并且评估人类溢出感染的风险非常重要。
