Chlamydia felis exposure in companion dogs and cats in Lanzhou, China: a public health concern

BMC Veterinary Research

Xing-Quan Zhu¹  Hui-Qun Song²  Dong-Hui Zhou²  Min-Jun Xu²  Si-Yang Huang²  Song-Ming Wu² 

[1] College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing, Heilongjiang Province 163319, PR China;State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730046, PR China

关键词: Dogs;    Cats;    Indirect hemagglutination (IHA) test;    Survey;    Chlamydiosis;    Chlamydia felis;   

Others  :  1119534
DOI  :  10.1186/1746-6148-9-104

 received in 2012-12-02, accepted in 2013-05-17,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

Chlamydiaceae is a family of obligate intracellular pathogens with a worldwide distribution in many animal species, including humans. No information exists on the prevalence of Chlamydia felis infections in cats and dogs in Lanzhou, the geographical center of China. The aim of this study was to carry out a census of cats and dogs in Lanzhou and document the seroprevalence of C. felis exposure in these companion animals.

Results

In this study, blood samples were collected from 485 animals (221 cats and 264 pet dogs) in Lanzhou between November 2010 and July 2011 to identify antibodies against C. felis. Thirteen of 221 (5.9%) cats and 32 of 264 (12.1%) pet dogs were positive for C. felis infection using indirect hemagglutination at a cutoff of 1:16. The seroprevalence in household and stray cats was 3.9% and 14.3%, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Among different age groups, the seroprevalence in cats varied from 1.9 to 7.9%, and that in dogs ranged from 9.6 to 20.4%; however, the differences were not statistically significant (P > 0.05).

Conclusions

This is the first report of the seroprevalence of C. felis exposure in cats and dogs in Lanzhou, northwestern China. Our results indicate that the presence of C. felis exposure in cats and dogs may pose a potential threat to human health.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Wu et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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