Feline leishmaniosis in Northwestern Italy: Current status and zoonotic implications

Leishmaniasis remains one of the major neglected tropical diseases. The epidemiological profile of the disease comprises a wide range of hosts, including dogs and cats. Despite several studies about feline Leishmaniosis, the role of cats in disease epidemiology and its clinical impact is still debated. The present study raises awareness about the impact of leishmaniasis in cats from an endemic region in of Northwestern Italy (Liguria). A total number of 250 serum and 282 blood samples were collected from cats, then assessed for Leishmania infantum (L. infantum) serologically using western blot (WB) and molecularly using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). We also tested the association of Leishmania infection with some infectious agents like haemotropic Mycoplasma, Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) together with the hematobiochemical status of the examined animals. Interestingly, all tested animals were asymptomatic and out of 250 examined serum samples, 33 (13.20%) samples (confidence interval (CI) 95% 9.56–17.96%) were positive at WB for L. infantum, whereas of the 282 blood samples, 80 (28.36%) returned a positive PCR (CI 95% 23.43–33.89%). Furthermore, there was a statistical association between PCR positivity for L. infantum and some hematological parameters besides FIV infection as well as a direct significant correlation between Mycoplasma infection and WB positivity. Taken together, the present findings report high prevalence of L. infantum among cats, which reinforces the significance of such positive asymptomatic animals and confirms the very low humoral response in this species. In addition, the laboratory values provide evidence that infection by the parasite is linked to alteration of some hematological parameters and is correlated to some infectious agents. These data are of interest and suggest future research for accurate diagnosis of such zoonosis.