This study was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Ross University School of veterinary Medicine (RUSVM). As studies from southern Africa, China, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Spain, Tasmania, and the United States of America have shown cats can be infected with a number of vector-borne agents, we carried out a serology and PCR survey to determine exposure of cats on St Kitts to the more important vector-borne agents, mainly Ehrlichia, Babesia and spotted fever group Rickettsia (SFGR).
have been shown to occur on three Caribbean islands, cats seropositive against Rickettsia rickettsii have been identified on St Kitts, and DNA of Ehrlichia canis and Babesia vogeli have been found in cats in Trinidad. Although studies on dogs have shown vector-borne diseases are very common in the Caribbean region, there have been only few studies on these infections in cats.
While feral cats in the region are known to be commonly infected with external and internal parasites, haemoplasmas and feline immunodeficiency virus, there is very little data on vector-borne agents. Animal health workers should be alerted to the possibility of clinical infections in their patients while public health workers should be alerted to the possibility that zoonotic SFGR are likely circulating in the region.įeral cats are common on Caribbean islands in the West Indies where they are valued by local residents due to their role in controlling rodents and rodent-associated diseases. gibsoni and also indicates that cats in the Caribbean may be commonly exposed to other vector-borne agents including SFGR, E. Our study provides the first evidence that cats can be infected with B. canis were positive while 42% we tested by indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) for R. Overall, 10% of the 52 cats we tested by IFA for E. vogeli in 3% (3/119), and a poorly characterized Babesia sp. canis in 5% (6/119), Babesia vogeli in 13% (15/119), Babesia gibsoni in 4% (5/119), mixed infections with B. We could not amplify DNA of SFG Rickettsia in any of the samples but found DNA of E. Sera from the 52 cats from 2014 were used to detect antibodies to Ehrlichia canis and Rickettsia rickettsii using indirect fluorescent antibody tests and DNA extracted from whole blood of a total of 119 cats (68 from 2011, and 51 from 2014) was used for PCRs for Babesia, Ehrlichia and Rickettsia. Whole blood was collected from apparently healthy feral cats during spay/ neuter campaigns on St Kitts in 2011 ( N = 68) and 2014 ( N = 52). As there is little data on vector-borne diseases of cats in the Caribbean region and even around the world, we tested feral cats from St Kitts by PCR to detect infections with Babesia, Ehrlichia and spotted fever group Rickettsia (SFGR) and surveyed them for antibodies to Rickettsia rickettsii and Ehrlichia canis.
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