Borrelia persica infection in dogs and cats: clinical manifestations, clinicopathological findings and genetic characterization

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dc.contributor.authorBaneth, Gad
dc.contributor.authorNachum-Biala, Yaarit
dc.contributor.authorHalperin, Tamar
dc.contributor.authorHershko, Yizhak
dc.contributor.authorKleinerman, Gabriela
dc.contributor.authorAnug, Yigal
dc.contributor.authorAbdeen, Ziad
dc.contributor.authorLavy, Eran
dc.contributor.authorAroch, Itamar
dc.contributor.authorStraubinger, Reinhard K.
dc.date.accessioned2019-02-27T11:01:06Z
dc.date.available2019-02-27T11:01:06Z
dc.date.issued2016-12-06
dc.description.abstractBackground: Relapsing fever (RF) is an acute infectious disease caused by arthropod-borne spirochetes of the genus Borrelia. The disease is characterized by recurrent episodes of fever that concur with spirochetemia. The RF borrelioses include louse-borne RF caused by Borrelia recurrentis and tick-borne endemic RF transmitted by argasid soft ticks and caused by several Borrelia spp. such as B. crocidurae, B. coriaceae, B. duttoni, B. hermsii, B. hispanica and B. persica. Human infection with B. persica is transmitted by the soft tick Ornithodoros tholozani and has been reported from Iran, Israel, Egypt, India, and Central Asia. Methods: During 2003–2015, five cats and five dogs from northern, central and southern Israel were presented for veterinary care and detected with borrelia spirochetemia by blood smear microscopy. The causative infective agent in these animals was identified and characterized by PCR from blood and sequencing of parts of the flagellin (flab), 16S rRNA and glycerophosphodiester phosphodiestrase (GlpQ) genes. Results: All animals were infected with B. persica genetically identical to the causative agent of human RF. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that DNA sequences from these pet carnivores clustered together with B. persica genotypes I and II from humans and O. tholozani ticks and distinctly from other RF Borrelia spp. The main clinical findings in cats included lethargy, anorexia, anemia in 5/5 cats and thrombocytopenia in 4/5. All dogs were lethargic and anorectic, 4/5 were febrile and anemic and 3/5 were thrombocytopenic. Three dogs were co-infected with Babesia spp. The animals were all treated with antibiotics and the survival rate of both dogs and cats was 80 %. The cat and dog that succumbed to disease died one day after the initiation of antibiotic treatment, while survival in the others was followed by the rapid disappearance of spirochetemia. Conclusions: This is the first report of disease due to B. persica infection in cats and the first case series in dogs. Infection was associated with anemia and thrombocytopenia. Fever was more frequently observed in dogs than cats. Domestic canines and felines suffer from clinical disease due to B. persica infection and may also serve as sentinels for human infection.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipThe authors thank the veterinarians who treated the cats and dogs reported in this study: Drs Almagor, Haimowitz, Kalechman, Volnasky, Cohensius, Oren, Ashuach, Wainberg, Shaani and Blum for assistance in this study. We also thank Dr. Eyal for her laboratory assistance. The study was funded by support from the USAID MERC program grant no. TA-MOU-12-M32-038 and grant 2014.52146 from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague, Netherlands. Publication of this paper has been sponsored by Bayer Animal Health in the framework of the 11th CVBD World Forum Symposium.en_US
dc.identifier.issn1756-3305
dc.identifier.urihttps://dspace.alquds.edu/handle/20.500.12213/4731
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherBioMed Centralen_US
dc.subjectRelapsing feveren_US
dc.subjectBorreliosisen_US
dc.subjectBorrelia persicaen_US
dc.subjectFelineen_US
dc.subjectCanineen_US
dc.titleBorrelia persica infection in dogs and cats: clinical manifestations, clinicopathological findings and genetic characterizationen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
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