Parasitology
Bijan Esmaeilnejad; Awat Samiei; Zahra Darabizade; Mohsen Akhoondi; Romina Salavati; Bahar Ahooghalandari; Vahid Fathipour; Arash Akhavan; Armin Fakheri
Volume 15, Issue 4 , April 2024, , Pages 211-214
Abstract
A 6-year-old male domestic short-haired cat (Felis catus) was presented with weakness, anorexia, fever, icterus, a painful abdomen, ruffled hair and a tick infestation, and it had no prior surgery. Laboratory analysis revealed left-shifted neutrophils, thrombocytopenia, low albumin content and high serum ...
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A 6-year-old male domestic short-haired cat (Felis catus) was presented with weakness, anorexia, fever, icterus, a painful abdomen, ruffled hair and a tick infestation, and it had no prior surgery. Laboratory analysis revealed left-shifted neutrophils, thrombocytopenia, low albumin content and high serum bilirubin concentration as well as activities of hepatic enzymes including alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase. Azotemia and increased serum levels of creatinine and urea were also recorded. In Giemsa-stained blood smear, Hepatozoon gamonts were observed within neutrophils. Species-specific polymerase chain reaction assay was used to amplify an approximately 590 bp fragment of 18S rRNA gene and confirmed Hepatozoon felis infection. The cat was treated with imidocarb dipropionate and doxycycline and recovered completely. Six-month follow-up showed no recurrence. This study reveals the presence of H. felis in Iran and it should be considered in differential diagnosis in febrile and icteric cats. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first description of H. felis infection in a cat in Iran.
Zahra Darabizadeh; Keivan Keramati; Dariush Shirani; Mohammad Molazem; Saeed Heydaryan; Yasamin Vali
Volume 14, Issue 5 , May 2023, , Pages 275-279
Abstract
Right ventricular parameters change in many cardiovascular diseases; so, the presence of normal right ventricular parameters is necessary to diagnose these diseases. Ten clinically healthy adult domestic short-haired cats including six males and four females in the range of 2.70 to 4.80 kg were studied ...
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Right ventricular parameters change in many cardiovascular diseases; so, the presence of normal right ventricular parameters is necessary to diagnose these diseases. Ten clinically healthy adult domestic short-haired cats including six males and four females in the range of 2.70 to 4.80 kg were studied using echocardiography without sedation. The speed and pressure of blood flow through the tricuspid and pulmonary valves, speed of the movement of tricuspid valve and tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) were recorded using conventional pulsed-wave (PW) Doppler, tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) and M-mode, respectively. No significant statistical differences were observed between the measured values and sex, heart rate and body weight. A positive correlation was observed between the maximum velocity of the right ventricular outflow tract and heart rate and also between TAPSE slope and body weight. With determining the normal values of PW-TDI of the right ventricle in apparently healthy domestic short-haired cats, it is expected that with providing normal reference values, the diagnosis of heart diseases especially asymptomatic heart disease be achieved as soon as possible to provide the best appropriate therapeutic management and monitoring decision about them.
