CLINICAL AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY ON AELUROSTRONGYLUS ABSTRUSUS INFECTION IN CATS, ROMANIA PRELIMINARY DATA [303815]

CLINICAL AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY ON AELUROSTRONGYLUS ABSTRUSUS INFECTION IN CATS, ; [anonimizat], [anonimizat] , [anonimizat]. of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases & Animal Biology

105 Splaiul Independentei, 5th district, 050097,

Corresponding author email: [anonimizat]

Abstract

The lungworm Aelurostrongylus abstrusus (Nematoda: Angiostrongylidae) is a parasite of domestic and wild felids with worldwide distribution. [anonimizat]. Cat lungworms are still considered by many clinicians sporadic and rarely are taken into account in the cat pathology. Therefore, in this paper we present a clinical and epidemiological study on cats with natural A. abstrusus infection. For this, 131 cats, [anonimizat] (49 males, 82 females) and age (between 2 months and 11 years), [anonimizat]. [anonimizat]-stage larvae (L1) [anonimizat] a [anonimizat]/[anonimizat] a flotation method. Subsequently, of the examined samples, 6.10% (8/131) were positive for A. abstrusus. The positive cats aged between 3 months and 2 years. Of them, 3 [anonimizat]: two with Toxocara cati and one with Ancylostoma tubaeforme. Clinically, 75% (6/8) of the infected cats displayed respiratory signs varying from mild ([anonimizat]) (n=3) to severe symptoms ([anonimizat]) (n=3), while 25% (2/8) showed no respiratory signs. The three cats with severe respiratory disease were infected only with A.abstrusus. [anonimizat]ʼs respiratory pathology.

Key words: [anonimizat], cat, .

INTRODUCTION

Aelurostrongylus abstrusus (Nematoda: Angiostrongylidae) is a gastropod-borne parasite of domestic and wild felids with a worldwide distribution; [anonimizat], breed, gender or lifestyle (Pennisi et al., 2015; Hawley et. al., 2016). Adult worms inhabit the alveolar ducts and terminal respiratory bronchioles (Mitrea, 2011). [anonimizat], [anonimizat], shortness of breath (Conboy, 2009).

[anonimizat] A. [anonimizat] (0.92%), France (4.34%), Switzerland (0.80%), Greece (8.47%), Italy (from 5% to 12.94%), Portugal (0.83% –

11.66%), Spain (5%), Hungary (22.5%), Bulgary (27.5%), (Pennisi et al., 2015; Giannelli et. al., 2017).

However, this nematode is still considered by many clinicians sporadic and relatively nonphatogenic (Genchi et al., 2014) and is not commonly included in the routine practice for differential diagnosis of feline respiratory distress (Soares et al., 2017).

In , little is known about the prevalence of lungworm infection and its impact on the respiratory pathology of cats.

Therefore, the aim of this study was to perform a preliminary investigation on the occurrence of A. abstrusus infection in cats from some areas of and its involvement in the cat respiratory distress.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

For this, 131 cats, with either exclusive outdoor lifestyle or both outdoor and indoor access, from Southern and Center , were randomly selected for a coprological screening.

Basic information on the breed, age, gender and access to the outdoors were recorded as provided by the owners.

Of the selected cats, individual fresh faecal samples were collected and processed in the Laboratory of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest. The faecal samples were analyzed, using a Baermann technique, to identify first-stage larvae (L1) of lungworms (Pennisi et al., 2015). Additionally, faecal samples were analyzed for potential mixed infection with eggs/oocysts of other endoparasites, using a flotation method (Ionita and Mitrea, 2013).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

A total of 131 domestic cats were recruited from 7 different localities in Center (n=24) and Southern (n=107) . Of them, 49 were males and 82 females, aging from 2 months to 11 years (mean 2.08 years), with exclusive outdoor access (n = 65; 49.62%) or with outdoor and indoor access (n = 66; 50.38%).

Of the investigated cats, 6.10% (8/131) were positive for A. abstrusus larvae (Figure 1).

The positive cats aged between 3 months and 2 years. Of them, 3 cats were co-infected: two with Toxocara cati and one with Ancylostoma tubaeforme (Table 1).

Table 1. Prevalence and clinical presentation of Aelurostrongylus abstrusus infection in cats ()

Legend: T.c.= Toxocara cati; A.t.= Ancylostoma tubaeforme; No= number; %= percentage

Figure 1. First stage larvae (L1) of Aelurostrongylus abstrusus recovered at the Baermann migration method

(A – x10; B – x40)

Clinically, 75% (6/8) of the infected cats displayed respiratory signs varying from mild (sporadic coughing, sneezing) (n=3) up to severe symptoms (mucopurulent nasal discharge, abdominal breathing) (n=3), while 25% (2/8) showed no respiratory signs. The three cats with severe respiratory disease were infected only with A. abstrusus, no other endoparasite infections were detected.

The findings of the present study showed the exposure of 6.10% of cats to A. abstrusus infection. These results are in accord with other similar studies that recently have reported, prevalence values of A. abstrusus infection in cats from Romanian varying from 5.6% (Mircean et al., 2010) to 14.16% (Giannelli et al., 2017).

When comparing with other European countries, large variation for the prevalence rates of A. abstrusus are found, with values from 2% (Cyprus; Diakou et al., 2017), 8.3% in Denmark (Hansen et al., 2017) up to 17% in Italy (Di Cesare et al., 2015) or 50% in feral cats from Albany (Pennisi et al., 2015).

A recent studies in 12 European countries performed by Giannelli et al. (2017) showed that of the lungworm species, A. abstrusus was the most frequent (78.10%), while other lungworm species were found in lower prevalence, such as Troglostrongylus brevior (19.5%), Eucoleus aerophilus (14.8%) or Oslerus rostratus (3.8%).

In the present study, the positive A. abstrusus cats were majority young animals, aged between 3 months and 2 years. Similar findings, with the highest frequency of A. abstrusus infection in cats lower than 2 years were reported in several European countries (Giannelli et al., 2017).

Even though A. abstrusus infection is often considered asymptomatic (Traversa et al., 2008), in our study 75% of the infected cats displayed respiratory signs, of which 37.5% (3/8) severe respiratory distress. As for the three cats with severe clinical respiratory signs, no co-infections with other endoparasites were detected, it was assumed that the clinical disease was caused by Aelurostrongylus abstrusus infection.

A recent study conducted by Hansen et al. (2017) showed that the majority of the A. abstrusus infected cats displayed mild to moderate clinical signs and none of these symptoms were associated with another endoparasites (T. cati and Capillaria aerophila) which may also affect the lungs.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings of the present study provide evidences for natural infection with A. abstrusus of domestic cats and its involvement as causative agent of moderate to severe respiratory distress. Therefore, it is highlighted the need for veterinary clinicians to include Aelurostrongylus infection in the differential diagnosis of catʼs respiratory pathology.

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