Table 3.
Comparison of results of epidemiological studies for L. infantum infection of the current study with other recent studies performed in cats in northern Italy.
| Variable | Spada et al 2014 [7] |
Spada et al 2016 [8] |
Current Study | Iatta et al 2019 [17] |
Urbani et al 2020 [18] |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | Stray | Stray | Stray | Owned | Owned | |
| Geographic area | Milan | Milan | Milan | Northern Italy | Bologna | |
| Sampling years | 2008-2010 | 2014 | 2016-2018 | 2017-2018 | 2017 | |
| Samples number | 233 | 90 | 117 | 1543 | 152 | |
| FeL overall prevalence | 9.0% | 12.2% | 8.6% | 1.6% | 12.5% | |
|
IFAT overall seropositivity
(at ≥1:80 cut off) |
21/233 (9.0%) |
11/90 (12.2%) |
5/102 (4.9%) |
20/1543 (1.3%) |
18/152 (11.8%) |
|
| IFAT titer | 1:40 | 38 (16.3%) | 16 (17.8%) | 8/102 (7.8%) | 0 (0.0%) | 27 (17.8%) |
| 1:80 | 15 (6.4%) | 11 (12.2%) | 3/102 (2.9%) | 20 (1.3%) | 11 (7.2%) | |
| 1:160 | 6 (2.6%) | 0 (0.0%) | 2/102 (2.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 5 (3.3%) | |
| 1:320 | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0/102 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 2 (1.3%) | |
| PCR overall positivity | 0 (0.0%) | 2 (2.2%) | 5/115 (4.4%) | 5/1543 (0.3%) | 1/150 (0.7%) | |
| PCR on | Whole blood | 0 (0.0%) | 1 (1.1%) | 0/109 (0.0%) | 5 (0.3%) | 0/146 (0.0%) |
| Conjunctiva | np | 0 (0.0%) | 0/117 (0.0%) | np | 0/150 (0.0%) | |
| Lymph node | np | 1 (1.1%) | 5/115 (4.4%) | np | np | |
| Ectoparasites | np | np | 0/13 (0.0%) | np | np | |
| Dermal lesion | np | np | 0/2 (0.0%) | np | np | |
| Hair | np | np | np | np | 1/150 (0.7%) | |
FeL: Feline leishmaniosis; IFAT: immunofluorescence antibody test; PCR: polymerase chain reaction; np: not performed.