Diagnosis of feline haemoplasma infection in Australian cats using a real-time PCR assay

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Abstract
A total of 147 cats from the Sydney area of Australia that had blood samples submitted to veterinary laboratories were tested using a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay able to detect and distinguish the two feline haemoplasma species. This sample number included two cats diagnosed with feline haemoplasma infection by routine blood smear examination. Statistical analysis was performed to evaluate associations between haemoplasma infection, age, sex, breed, haematocrit (HCT) values and anaemia status. One hundred and six cats (72.1%) were negative. Thirty-four cats (23.1%) were positive for ‘ Candidatus M. haemominutum’, six cats (4.1%) were positive for M. haemofelis and one cat (0.7%) was positive for both species. Older, male, non-pedigree cats, with lower HCT values were more likely to be infected with ‘ Candidatus M. haemominutum’. Significant inverse correlation was found between the amount of M. haemofelis DNA present in the blood and the HCT value. This report documents the existence of, and prevalence of, both haemoplasma species in a sample of cats in Australia and is the first to use quantitative real-time PCR in a prevalence study for haemoplasma infection.