Evaluation of clinicopathological abnormalities in sick cats naturally infected by Leishmania infantum

Manolis K Chatzis; Panagiotis G Xenoulis; Leonidas Leontides; Dimitrios Kasabalis; Mathios E Mylonakis; Margarita Andreadou; John Ikonomopoulos; Manolis N Saridomichelakis

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05177

Evaluation of clinicopathological abnormalities in sick cats naturally infected by Leishmania infantum

Heliyon. 2020 Oct 6;6(10):e05177. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05177. eCollection 2020 Oct.

Authors

Manolis K Chatzis¹, Panagiotis G Xenoulis¹, Leonidas Leontides², Dimitrios Kasabalis¹, Mathios E Mylonakis³, Margarita Andreadou⁴, John Ikonomopoulos⁴, Manolis N Saridomichelakis¹

Affiliations

¹ Clinic of Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Thessaly, 224 Trikalon Str., GR-43132, Karditsa, Greece.
² Laboratory of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Animal Health Economics, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Thessaly, 224 Trikalon Str., GR-43132, Karditsa, Greece.
³ Companion Animal Clinic, School of Veterinary Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 11 Stavrou Voutyra Str., GR-54627, Thessaloniki, Greece.
⁴ Department of Anatomy and Physiology of Farm Animals, Faculty of Animal Science, Agricultural University of Athens, 75 Iera Odos, Votanikos, GR-11855, Athens, Greece.

Abstract

Feline infection by Leishmania infantum (syn. L. chagasi) has been described in areas where canine leishmaniosis is endemic. A wide variety of clinicopathological abnormalities have been reported in cats presenting clinical signs of leishmaniosis but there is a paucity of information regarding cats infected by L. infantum that do not suffer from leishmaniosis but from other diseases. The aim of this study was to compare: a) the frequency of clinicopathological abnormalities and b) the values of hematology, serum biochemistry and urinalysis parameters, between non-infected sick cats and sick cats that were infected by L. infantum. A total of 50 cats with cutaneous, ocular and/or systemic clinical signs that lived in an endemic area and had been tested for infection by L. infantum using PCR from four different tissues, were included. Based on the results of PCR, 20/50 cats were found to be infected and 30/50 non-infected. The only difference between the two groups of cats was that the concentration of inorganic phosphorus (P = 0.043) was higher in infected cats. This finding may suggest an association between infection by L. infantum and feline kidney disease.

Keywords: CAT; Clinicopathological abnormalities; Infectious disease; Kidney disease; Leishmania; Leishmania infantum; Parasite; Parasitology; Phosphorus; Veterinary medicine.