title: Prevalence of Cytauxzoon felis infection in healthy cats from enzootic areas in Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Infection with Cytauxzoon felis in domestic cats can cause fever, lethargy, depression, inappetence, icterus, and often death. With a high mortality rate, cytauxzoonosis was historically considered a fatal disease. Within the last 15 years, cats with or without treatment have been recognized as chronically infected survivors of C. felis infection. Our objective was to determine the prevalence of C. felis in healthy domestic cats from Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  Infection with C. felis was determined using DNA extracted from anticoagulated whole blood and PCR amplification using C. felis-specific primers. Chi-square, Fisher's exact tests, and odds ratios were used to compare proportions of cats infected with C. felis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Blood samples were collected from 902 healthy domestic cats between October 2008 and April 2012. DNA from Cytauxzoon felis was detected in 56 of 902 (6.2%; 95% confidence interval, 4.7-7.9) samples. The highest prevalence of C. felis infection (15.5%; 10.3-21.7) was observed in cats from Arkansas, followed by cats from Missouri (12.9%; 6.1-24.0), and cats from Oklahoma (3.4%; 2.2-5.1). Cats sampled in Arkansas and Missouri were 5.1 and 4.2, respectively, times more likely to be chronically infected with C. felis than cats from Oklahoma.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Infection with C. felis is common in domestic cats through Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. The high prevalence of C. felis reported herein suggests that infected domestic cats are likely reservoirs of infection for naive felines. The high prevalence of C. felis substantiates the importance for the use of approved acaricides on cats to prevent cytauxzoonosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA. theresa.rizzi@okstate.edu.
authors.forename: Theresa E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Rizzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA. mason.reichard@okstate.edu.
authors.forename: Mason V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Reichard
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA. CohnL@missouri.edu.
authors.forename: Leah A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Cohn
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA. ajbirken@ncsu.edu.
authors.forename: Adam J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Birkenheuer
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA. jared.d.taylor@okstate.edu.
authors.forename: Jared D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA. james.meinkoth@okstate.edu.
authors.forename: James H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Meinkoth
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001096:Arachnid Vectors / Q000469:parasitology; D001131:Arkansas / Q000453:epidemiology; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D002415:Cats; D026863:Ixodidae / Q000469:parasitology; D008923:Missouri / Q000453:epidemiology; D009825:Oklahoma / Q000453:epidemiology; D016792:Piroplasmida / Q000502:physiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011529:Protozoan Infections, Animal / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology