| Cytauxzoon felis is a disease observed in domestic cats in the Midwest that often leads to a fatal outcome. Although the clinical disease process is well described, there are still many unanswered questions about this organism. One of these questions involves the likelihood of a tick vector in naturally occurring cases. Another important point involves the possibility of genetic variation resulting in less virulent strains especially with the recent report of several surviving cases noted in domestic cats in a northeastern Oklahoma and southwestern Arkansas.; This study evaluated ticks collected from several Missouri counties from dogs and cats for the presence of C. felis small subunit ribosomal RNA (ssu-rRNA) and internal transcribed spacer region-1 (ITS-1) genes using a polymerase chain reaction. Positive samples were identified in three Amblyomma americanum nymph ticks, but no genetic variation was noted among the isolated samples. This is the first known report of ITS-1 gene identification and sequencing for C. felis . It is also the first known investigation for any genetic variation of C. felis. |
