Epidemiological aspects of hemoparasitosis in domestic cats (Felis catus) from the Amazon region of Mato Grosso

Abstract

Domestic cats (Felis catus) take the chance of being affected by tick-borne agents, even though it is less susceptible to infestations of these vectors. Among these agents, Anaplasma platys has been a point to draw attention for its pathogenic characteristics that can become even more severe, when associated with other bacterial agents. The objective of this research was evaluate retrospectively 279 reports for research on hemoparasitosis in domestic cats, carried out in the Amazon region of Mato Grosso between the years 2016 and 2018. The association with the independent variables (breed, sex, age and season of the year) was performed using Fisher's Exact test with a 95% confidence level, the prevalence ratio (PR) was calculated using Poisson regression, all analyzes were performed using the SPSS version 2 program. Among the analyzed reports, only parasitic forms with characteristics of Anaplasma platys were detected, this agent was detected in 41 (14.7%) of the 279 reports of domestic cats analyzed in this study. There is a higher prevalence of infection in puppies, however there was no distinction of prevalence between periods of drought and rainy, as well as in the variables race and sex, no significant difference was observed.