Prevalence of Zoonotic Pathogens in Domestic and Feral Cats in Shanghai, with Special Reference to Salmonella

Halim A^1*, Bhekharee AK¹, Feng M², Cheng X^2*, Halim M^3*
1Zhongshan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Shanghai, China
²Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
³University of Salford, MSc Biomedical Science, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom

Corresponding Author(s): Alice Halim*, Xunjia Cheng* and Michael Halim**
Address: *Zhongshan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Shanghai, China. **University of Salford, MSc Biomedical Science, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom.
Received date: 10 December 2020; Accepted date: 07 January 2021; Published date: 15 January 2021

Citation: Halim A, Bhekharee AK, Feng M, Cheng X, Halim M. Prevalence of Zoonotic Pathogens in Domestic and Feral Cats in Shanghai, with Special Reference to Salmonella. J Health Care and Research. 2021 Jan 15;2(1):1-12.

Copyright © 2021 Halim A, Bhekharee AK, Feng M, Cheng X, Halim M. This is an open-access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Keywords: Zoonotic Pathogen, Zoonosis, Cat Stool, Pet, Salmonella, Public Health, Infectious Disease, PCR, Primer, Phylogenetic Tree

Abstract

Interacting with domestic or feral cats comes with both pleasure and harm. This research has attempted to study the role of cats in Shanghai, China, being vectors of disease and the risk they pose to public health. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), gel electrophoresis, molecular cloning, and DNA sequencing were methods used to compare the prevalence of zoonotic bacteria and parasites in domestic and feral cats. Phylogenetic trees were created for further analysis. From this study involving 30 cats and 12 zoonotic pathogens, four pathogens were identified in our stool samples using PCR: Escherichia coli, Campylobacter spp., Salmonella spp., and Toxocara cati. In total, 60% of the kittens had enteric zoonoses in their stools while 30% of the adult cats’ stools contained enteric zoonoses. Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica, which is the leading cause of Salmonellosis in developed countries, was present in two samples inferred from sequencing and phylogenetic tree analysis.