Prevalence of Bartonella spp. in Cats and Dogs and Genomic Diversity of Isolates in Gunma Prefecture, Japan

Abstract

We investigated the prevalence ofBartonellaspp. in 346 cats in a compound (sheltered cats, including 88 newborn cats), 84 pet cats in animal clinics and 72 dogs in a compound (sheltered dogs) in Gunma Prefecture. The genomic diversity ofB. henselae isolateswere also examined by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) with Not I and Sma I restriction enzymes.Bartonellaspp. were isolated from 4.3%(11/258) of sheltered cats excluding newborn cats and 3.6%(3/84) of pet cats, but not from the sheltered newborn catsand dogs. Of these positive cats, B. henselae was detected in 11 sheltered and three pet cats, B. clarridgeaewas detected in only oneB. henselae-positivepet cat. All B. henselae isolates (33 strains) belonged to the 16S rRNA gene type I and showed genetically diverse genome patterns. Our data suggested that vertical transmission of Bartonellaspp. may not occur in cats. The cats with positive results in Gunma Prefecture have been co-infected with B. henselae type I with various genetic divergences.