Occurrence of Chlamydiaceae and Chlamydia felis pmp9 Typing in Conjunctival and Rectal Samples of Swiss Stray and Pet Cats.

ABSTRACT: Chlamydia (C.) felis primarily replicates in feline conjunctival epithelial cells and is an important cause of conjunctivitis in cats. Data on C. felis infection rates in stray cats in Switzerland has been missing so far. We performed a qPCR-based Chlamydiaceae-screening on 565 conjunctival and 387 rectal samples from 309 stray and 86 pet cats followed by Chlamydia species identification and C. felis typing using the gene pmp9, which encodes a polymorphic membrane protein. Overall, 19.1% of the stray and 11.6% of the pet cats were Chlamydiaceae-positive with significantly higher rates in cats displaying signs of conjunctivitis (37.1%) compared to healthy animals (6.9%). Rectal shedding of Chlamydiaceae occurred in 25.0%

SUBMITTER: Bressan M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8400119 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature