Mycobacteria are intracellular, acid-fast, slow-growing bacilliform Gram-positive aerobic bacteria, highly resistant to environmental conditions (Greene and Gunn-Moore, 2006; Gunn-Moore, 2010). Mycobacterial taxonomy is complex, and many species can infect cats and cause different clinical presentations.
The pathogenic role of many Bartonella spp. as pathogens of humans and domestic animals is still unknown. Bartonella henselae is the causative agent of cat scratch disease (CSD) in humans, a self-limiting regional lymphadenopathy and cats are its main reservoir host.
Babesiosis is a tick-borne protozoal disease affecting domestic and wild animals and humans worldwide. Babesiosis is caused by parasites of the genus Babesia belonging to protozoan piroplasms (Alvarado-Rybak et al., 2016).
After malaria and lymphatic filariasis, leishmaniosis is the third most important vector-borne disease in people;
Toxoplasma gondii infection is common in cats, but the clinical picture is rare. Up to 50% of cats, especially free-roaming ones, have antibodies indicating infection and the presence of cystic stages. Clinical signs usually appear when cats become immunosuppressed – in these situations, cystic stages can be reactivated.
Giardia is a protozoal parasite that infects the small intestine of cats and can cause diarrhoea. The biotypes considered as feline specific biotypes do not appear to infect humans, but zoonotic biotypes (isolated from human cases) are frequently found in cats.
Tritrichomonas foetus is a protozoan organism that can cause predominantly large intestinal diarrhoea in cats. It is specific to cats, distinct from other Tritrichomonas species and not considered to be zoonotic. Infection is most common in young cats from multicat households, particularly pedigree breeding catteries.
Feline cryptococcosis is caused by basidiomycetous yeasts of the genus Cryptococcus belonging to the C. neoformans-C.
Aspergillosis is a sporadic mycosis that occurs worldwide in mammals and birds. Similar to the disease in humans, aspergillosis in cats can be classified by anatomic location, invasiveness, duration of infection, host immune status, pathology, and pathogenesis.
In contrast to single-celled yeasts, dermatophytes (literally: “skin plants”) are complex fungi growing as hyphae and forming a mycelium. Almost 40 species belonging to the genera Microsporum, Trichophyton and Epidermophyton are considered as dermatophytes.
(Link to the 2013 issue)
This issue contains update articles of the 2009 and 2013 guidelines, and new recommendations for cats with different lifestyles, rescue shelter cats and breeding catteries – which we have called “Matrix vaccination guidelines”.
Capnocytophaga canimorsus and C. cynodegmi are part of the normal bacterial flora in the oral cavity of dogs and cats; C. canimorsus is more pathogenic and causes more severe infections in humans.
This bacterial species was discovered in ground squirrels in Tulare County, California, in 1911. Tularaemia is a potentially fatal zoonosis mostly found in the Northern hemisphere.
The plague is currently endemic in many parts of the world and foci of plague occur in Asia, Africa and the Americas in semiarid areas where flea vectors are active all year round and rodent reservoirs are abundant (Valles et al., 2020).
Currently most of human cases occur in
Leptospires are mobile, thin, filamentous bacteria of a size of 6.0-25.0 mm length and 0.1-0.2 mm width, that appear as fine spirals often with hook-shaped ends (Fig. 1) (Bharti et al., 2003; Adler and de la Pena Moctezuma, 2010).
Coxiella burnetii is a Gram-negative, obligate intracellular, small, pleomorphic bacterium belonging to the order Legionellales. This organism has a complicated life cycle with different morphological stadia. It may occur as a small-cell variant and a large-cell variant.
Pasteurella multocida, a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, non-spore-forming pleomorphic coccobacillus, is a commensal bacterium and part of the natural flora in the nasopharynx and upper respiratory tract of the cat (Freshwater, 2008;
Papillomaviruses cause cutaneous lesions in man and several animal species, including cats (Munday, 2010). In each host different papillomavirus types exist, which is also true for cats (Munday, 2008).
The natural hosts of ADV are domestic and wild suids. The clinical signs in these animals include respiratory, reproductive and neurological signs, depending on the age of the animal. Like other herpesviruses, ADV produces a latent infection in the host.