Prevalence of Bartonella henselae and Bartonella clarridgeiae in cats and dogs in Korea.
Blood, saliva, and nail samples were collected from 54 dogs and 151 cats and analyzed for the presence of Bartonella henselae with a novel nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. Bartonella (B.) henselae was detected in feral cat blood (41.8%), saliva (44.1%), and nail (42.7%) samples. B. henselae was also detected in pet cat blood (33.3%), saliva (43.5%), and nail (29.5%) samples and in pet dog blood (16.6%), saliva (18.5%), and nail (29.6%) samples. Nine samples were infected with B. clarridgeiae and 2 were co-infected with B. henselae and B. clarridgeiae of blood samples of dogs. This report is the first to investigate the prevalence of B. henselae and B. clarridgeiae in dogs and cats in Korea, and suggests that dogs and cats may serve as potential Bartonella reservoirs.
Kim
You-seok
YS
Department of Veterinary Internal Medicine and BK21 Program for Veterinary Science, College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea.
Seo
Kyoung-won
KW
Lee
Jong-hwa
JH
Choi
Eun-wha
EW
Lee
Hee-woo
HW
Hwang
Cheol-yong
CY
Shin
Nam-shik
NS
Youn
Hee-jeong
HJ
Youn
Hwa Young
HY
D000818:Animals; D001473:Bartonella / Q000145:classification*; D001474:Bartonella Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D002415:Cats; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000662:veterinary; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D004285:Dogs; D006724:Hoof and Claw / Q000382:microbiology; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012463:Saliva / Q000382:microbiology