Molecular Detection of spp. and Hematological Evaluation in Domestic Cats and Dogs from Bangkok, Thailand.

(1) Background: spp. are Gram-negative, facultative, intracellular bacteria transmitted by hematophagous insects. Several species cause zoonotic diseases such as cat-scratch disease. and are the main species found in Thailand, however, there have been few studies on spp. In addition, the hematological evaluation of -infected animals is limited in Thailand. The aims of this study were prevalence investigation and hematological evaluation of -infected dogs and cats residing in Bangkok, Thailand. (2) Methods: In total, 295 dogs and 513 cats were molecularly evaluated to detect spp. using PCR with primers targeting the partial , , , , and genes. In total, 651 domestic animals were evaluated for hematological parameters compared between -positive and -negative animals. (3) Results: Overall, the prevalence of spp. was 1.61% which was found only in free-ranging cats (2.83%). and were confirmed from a concatenated phylogenetic tree of partial and genes, with 100% bootstrapping replication. For other housekeeping gene sequences, mixed infection was expected from the amplicons of , , and . Importantly, the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) was significantly increased in -positive cats. (4) Conclusions: We suggest that and are important species and are still circulating in domestic animals, especially cats. The evaluation of blood parameters, especially a raised MCV, should be of concern in infection in asymptomatic cats. Additionally, the knowledge of how to prevent -related diseases should be promoted with people in at-risk situations.