Follow-up monitoring in a cat with leishmaniosis and coinfections with Hepatozoon felis and ‘Candidatus Mycoplasma haemominutum’

Attipa, Charalampos; Neofytou, Kyriaki; Yiapanis, Christos; Martínez-Orellana, Pamela; Baneth, Gad; Nachum-Biala, Yaarit; Brooks-Brownlie, Harriet; Solano-Gallego, Laia; Tasker, Séverine

There are only a few case reports that provided prolonged follow-up for FeL, [12] [13] [14] [15] and only in one case did this comprise measurement of L infantum DNA levels and serology. 12 In the current case, while the ELISA results followed a similar pattern to the DNA levels during treatment, they both failed to do the same during the monitoring period, in which the clinical signs resolved but parasitaemia persisted (Table 1) . Persichetti et al reported in a recent study that although ELISA serology was better for diagnosing clinical FeL compared with the immunofluorescent antibody test (IFAT), the latter was more sensitive than ELISA to detect subclinical infection. 16 The same study also recommended Western blot as the preferable serological test for FeL since it yielded a higher sensitivity and specificity in comparison to ELISA and IFAT. The pathogens infecting this cat were recently found to have a PCR prevalence of 3.1% for L infantum, 58.0% for Hepatozoon species and 33.0% for CMhm in nonhealthy Cypriot cats, 3 with L infantum and Hepatozoon canis also being reported in the canine population of this island. 17 Significant associations between L infantum infection and H felis and CMt infections in cats using multivariable logistic regression have been reported, suggesting impaired host immune response due to the multiple coinfections. 3 This could have been a component leading to the persistent L infantum parasitaemia in this cat in the face of the Hepatozoon species and CMhm coinfections.