Prevalence of Blood Types and Alloantibodies of the AB Blood Group System in Non-Pedigree Cats from Northern (Lombardy) and Southern (Sicily) Italy

Abstract

<jats:p>The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of A, B and AB blood types and alloantibodies in non-pedigree cats from two regions, one in Northern and one in Southern Italy (Lombardy and Sicily, respectively). A total of 448 samples (52.0% from Northern and 48.0% from Southern Italy) were blood typed. The prevalence of A, B and AB blood types in northern and southern cats were 91.0%, 5.2%, 3.8%, and 77.2%, 12.1% and 10.7%, respectively. The prevalence of type-A blood in southern cats was significantly lower (p = 0.0001) than in northern cats, while type-B and AB blood were significantly higher (p = 0.0085 and p = 0.0051, respectively) in Southern compared to Northern Italian cats. Alloantibodies against type-A blood were found in 94.1% of type-B cats, 11.2% of type-A cats had alloantibodies against type-B blood, while no type-AB cats had alloantibodies with no significant difference between the two Italian populations. Type-AB prevalence in non-pedigree cats in Southern Italy was the highest reported in Europe. Italian type-A cats had the lowest worldwide prevalence of alloantibodies against type-B blood. These results highlight the usefulness of regional studies to report different prevalences in feline blood types and reinforce the importance of blood typing cats before transfusions and mating.</jats:p>

Frequency of Blood Types A, B and AB in a Population of Non-Pedigree Domestic Cats from Central Italy

“…In this study, the blood type AB was quite low (3.1%) and this result is in contrast with the high incidence identified in Southern Italy in a recent study [ 16 ]. To the author’s knowledge, this result is similar to that reported in most other studies with the exception of Portugal, Germany, and UK where a frequency of 6.3%, 7.4%, and 8.5% in mixed breed cats was reported, respectively [ 8 , 17 , 25 ].…”

“…As reported in Table 1 , in this survey the frequency of type B in the feline population is higher (7.0%) compared to most other European studies (i.e., Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Iberian Peninsula, Switzerland, and UK) [ 2 , 3 , 5 , 10 , 11 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 21 ] and is comparable to those of four studies conducted in Northern Italy, where about a total of 600 European domestic shorthair cats were enrolled [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. Instead, Giger et al and Spada et al reported a high prevalence of blood type B in Central (11.2% in Tuscany region) and Southern Italy (12.1% in Sicily), respectively [ 5 , 16 ]. Although in most reports from other European areas the prevalence of group B in non-pedigree cats is also low (less than 10%), there are marked geographical variations.…”

“…All subjects from the VTHP and the VP were typed by IC. Type B and AB results from VTHP and VP were back-typed as previously described [ 14 , 16 ] or retyped by IC, respectively, to be confirmed. All potential donors and all anemic cats from VTHT were typed and retyped using IC, whereas all the B and the AB patients that had been previously tested by AC were retyped by IC.…”

“…The frequency of blood types in cats varies geographically and within breeds. Several international studies show that type A is the most common blood type in non-pedigree cat populations in different European countries [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. On the other hand, it has been seen that Type B and the rare type AB has a high incidence in some feline pure breeds and no incidence in other breeds [ 8 , 26 , 27 , 28 ].…”

“…Studies to determine the frequency of blood groups in domestic cats in Italy produced similar results to those reported in the international literature, with type A overrepresented in the feline population. However, these studies describe mainly feline populations from Northern Italy, whereas data on blood types frequency in cats from Central and Southern Italy are limited [ 5 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ].…”