First report of Cytauxzoon sp. infection in Germany: organism description and molecular confirmation in a domestic cat.

Cytauxzoonosis is described as an emerging tick-borne disease of domestic and wild felids caused by protozoans of the genus Cytauxzoon. While in the Americas the condition is described as a fatal disease, in Europe, reports on the clinical expression of the infection are scarce. This study describes the first case of Cytauxzoon sp. infection in Germany, in a domestic cat. A 6-year-old male domestic cat living in Saarlouis (Saarland) was presented with anorexia, lethargy and weight loss. The cat had an outdoor lifestyle and had not travelled abroad. Serum clinical chemistry analysis revealed azotaemia with markedly increased symmetric dimethylarginine, hypercreatinemia, hyperphosphatemia and hypoalbuminemia. Moreover, a mild non-regenerative anaemia was present. Approximately 1 year prior to these findings, the domestic cat was diagnosed with a feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infection. These results pointed toward a decreased glomerular filtration rate, presumably as a result of kidney dysfunction. Round to oval signet ring-shaped intraerythrocytic organisms, morphologically suggestive for a piroplasm, were revealed during blood smear evaluation with a degree of parasitaemia of 33.0%. PCR analyses and sequencing of a region of the 18S rRNA gene confirmed the presence of a Cytauxzoon sp. infection, with 99-100% nucleotide sequence identity with previously published Cytauxzoon sp. isolates. As this is the first molecularly confirmed Cytauxzoon sp. infection in a domestic cat in Germany, these findings suggest that cytauxzoonosis should be considered as a differential diagnosis in cases of anaemia in outdoor domestic cats, particularly in areas where wild felid populations are present.

Canine bone marrow cytological examination, classification and reference values: A retrospective study of 295 cases.

Cytologic assessment of bone marrow with knowledge of the hemogram represents an effective method to investigate hemic tissue and its function. To determine the spectrum and prevalence of canine bone marrow disorders over a 2 year period in a diagnostic laboratory setting achieved through a standard approach to cytologic bone marrow assessment. A retrospective study of bone marrow fine needle aspirates sample preparations, blood smears, hemogram data and case records. Of the 295 bone marrow samples evaluated, 90 (30.5%) were nondiagnostic samples. Of the remaining samples, 25.1% were classified as hyperplasia of which most were granulocytic hyperplasia (58.1% of the total hyperplasia), 19.3% had no cytological abnormalities, 12.9% had malignant hemopathy and 7.8% had hypo-aplastic conditions. Only a small proportion of cases involved dysplasia (1.7%) and metastatic disease was detected in only one case (0.3%). Reference values of nucleated cells and the M/E ratio were calculated for normal and erythroid and granulocytic hyperplastic bone marrow. This study provides the spectrum and the prevalence of canine bone marrow disorders as well as a differential bone marrow cell counting and determination of reference intervals for diseases.