Worldwide Occurrence of Feline Hemoplasma Infections in Wild Felid Species

Abstract

While hemoplasma infections in domestic cats are well studied, almost no information is available on their occurrence in wild felids. The aims of the present study were to investigate wild felid species as possible reservoirs of feline hemoplasmas and the molecular characterization of the hemoplasma isolates. Blood samples from the following 257 wild felids were analyzed: 35 Iberian lynxes from Spain, 36 Eurasian lynxes from Switzerland, 31 European wildcats from France, 45 lions from Tanzania, and 110 Brazilian wild felids, including 12 wild felid species kept in zoos and one free-ranging ocelot. Using real-time PCR, feline hemoplasmas were detected in samples of the following species: Iberian lynx, Eurasian lynx, European wildcat, lion, puma, oncilla, Geoffroy's cat, margay, and ocelot. "Candidatus Mycoplasma haemominutum" was the most common feline hemoplasma in Iberian lynxes, Eurasian lynxes, Serengeti lions, and Brazilian wild felids, whereas "Candidatus Mycoplasma turicensis" was the most prevalent in European wildcats; hemoplasma coinfections were frequently observed. Hemoplasma infection was associated with species and free-ranging status of the felids in all animals and with feline leukemia virus provirus-positive status in European wildcats. Phylogenetic analyses of the 16S rRNA and the partial RNase P gene revealed that most hemoplasma isolates exhibit high sequence identities to domestic cat-derived isolates, although some isolates form different subclusters within the phylogenetic tree. In conclusion, 9 out of 15 wild felid species from three different continents were found to be infected with feline hemoplasmas. The effect of feline hemoplasma infections on wild felid populations needs to be further investigated.

Occurrence and phylogenetic analysis of ‘Candidatus Mycoplasma haemominutum’ in wild felines from Paraná, Brazil

“…The sequences obtained from 'Candidatus M. haemominutum' showed strong evolutionary homology with sequences derived from eurasian lynxes in Switzerland, lions in Tanzania, european wildcats in France, jaguars in Brazil and domestic cats in various countries around the world, such as Brazil, United States, Hungary and Italy (Figure 1), indicating that genotypes 1, 2, 3 and 4 of 'Candidatus M. haemominutum' are able to infect both wild and domestic felines (WILLI et al, 2007;HORNOK et al, 2008;ANDRÉ et al, 2011;SANTIS et al, 2014).…”

“…With regard to wild felines, the few studies that have detected 'Candidatus M. haemominutum' infection reported only that the sampled felines were asymptomatic and showed no changes in packed cell volume (PCV) (WILLI et al, 2007;ANDRÉ et al, 2011;HWANG et al, 2015). Willi et al (2007) also noted that iberian lynxes PCR-positive for 'Candidatus M. haemominutum' become free of the infection 1 to 2 years after its detection, indicating that wild felines may be more resistant to hemoplasma infections than domestic cats.…”

“…It has also been suggested that the absence of obvious clinical signs in wild felines infected with hemoplasmas is because blood sampling was done during the chronic phase rather than the acute phase of the infection (WILLI et al, 2007;ANDRÉ et al, 2011).…”

“…Among the three hemoplasma species that infect felines, 'Candidatus M. haemominutum' is considered the least pathogenic and clinical symptoms of the infection have been reported in co-infections with other hemoplasma species, retroviruses or hemoparasites (WILLI et al, 2007;NIBBLETT et al, 2009). However, hemolytic anemia has been observed in cats infected with 'Candidatus M. haemominutum', without the presence of concomitant diseases or infections (WEINGART et al, 2016).…”

“…However, few studies have focused on determining the prevalence of 'Candidatus M. haemominutum' in neotropical felines. In Brazil, Willi et al (2007) and André et al (2011) used molecular tools and detected this pathogen in P. onca, P. concolor, P. yagouaroundi, L. pardalis, L. tigrinus and L. geoffroyi from the Federal District and the states of São Paulo and Mato Grosso.…”