Experimental Infection of Cats with Chlamydophila felis.

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Cats experimentally infected with a British isolate of Chlamydophila felis (C. felis), B166 strain, by droplet into the eye and nose developed conjunctivitis, mild rhinitis and fever. The chlamydophila were first isolated from conjunctiva, nictitating membrane and then from lung, tonsil, liver, spleen, kidney, nasal and vaginal swabs and blood. These results indicate that C. felis B166 strain first infected and replicated in the conjunctiva and nictitating membrane in cats with symptoms which were mostly limited to conjunctivitis, and then pervaded the whole body by bacteremia. KEY WORDS: bacteremia, Chlamydophila felis, experimental infection.J. Vet. Med. Sci. 64(12): 1165-1168, 2002 The disease caused by Chlamydophila felis (C. felis) is clinically characterized by sneezing and coughing, accompanied by mucopurulent ocular and nasal discharges in cats [1]. Nowadays, C. felis is primarily considered an ocular pathogen with or without rhinitis in cats rather than a pulmonary pathogen [3,9,16].There have been a few reports of seroepidemiological investigation of feline chlamydiosis in Japan [4,7,10,18]. Mochizuki et al. reported that C. felis was found in 26.9% of diseased cats with conjunctivitis and rhinits [7]. Yan et al. reported that the rate of prevalence of C. felis antibodies was 45.5% in stray cats and 12.3% in pet cats [18]. These reports suggest widespread chlamydophila infected in cats in Japan.Cats experimentally infected with C. felis developed conjunctivitis, ocular discharges and fever, and this organism has been isolated from some tissues of experimentally infected cats [5,6,13,15]. However, the time course of the disease and of the spread of the organism in the bodies of infected cats are not known clearly.In this report, we describe the characteristics of clinical disease produced by C. felis after ocular and intranasal exposure. The distribution of C. felis in the bodies of cats was also examined by isolation and immunohistological and pathological examinations.C. felis B166 strain used in this experiment was isolated from a cat with conjunctivitis in the United Kingdom in 1984 [14].Twenty-six specific pathogen free (SPF) cats 2 to 6 months old were obtained from a colony maintained on an SPF animal farm. The SPF status of the cats was verified by the culturing of conjunctival swabs in embryonated hens' eggs for chlamydia, CRFK cells for virus, mycoplasma liquid media for mycoplasma, and thioglycolate media for bacteria, and the samples were all negative for these agents. The cats were kept in individual cages, fed commercial dry cat food and supplied water properly. The cats were randomly divided into 11 groups of two or four cats each. Two control cats were kept in a separate room. The experiments were performed according to our institutional guidelines for animal experimentation.Twenty-five microliters of suspension containing 10 3.0 ELD 50 (50% embryo lethal dose) of virulent, egggrown feline C. felis B166 strain were inoculated by droplet into the eye and nose of a cat. The ELD 5...

Use of Quantitative Real-Time PCR To Monitor the Response of Chlamydophila felis Infection to Doxycycline Treatment

“…Latent infection and carrier status of C. felis in cats has also been postulated (14). C. felis has been isolated from the gastrointestinal tract, genital tract, lung, tonsil, liver, spleen, kidney, and blood (4,6,15). It has been shown that C. felis recovered from gastric mucosa of cats can induce ocular infection (1).…”

Sampling sites for detection of feline herpesvirus-1, feline calicivirus andChlamydia felisin cats with feline upper respiratory tract disease

“…6,7 C felis mainly causes acute or chronic conjunctivitis and blepharospasm with serous or mucopurulent ocular discharge. [8][9][10] A presumptive diagnosis of the pathogen(s) involved in FURTD is commonly established based on the presence or absence of certain clinical signs; however, there is considerable overlap in clinical signs between the three pathogens, and mixed infections can occur. [11][12][13] As a consequence, the pathogens involved in FURTD can only be definitively identified by laboratory tests, which can be used to guide anti-infective treatment, such as antiviral drugs or antibiotics, and to control the infections in multicat households.…”

PCR confirmation of Chlamydophila felis from nasal and conjunctival swab samples of a domestic cat in Croatia

“…According to literature chlamydiosis in naturally infected cats usually begins on one eye (Masubuchi et al, 2002). Except patological changes on eyes, lack of weight gain and threadbarel fur, there were no other clinical signs of chlamydioses.…”