Korean J Parasitol.  2010 Sep;48(3):247-251. 10.3347/kjp.2010.48.3.247.

First Report of Feline Intestinal Trichomoniasis Caused by Tritrichomonas foetus in Korea

• Lim S
• Park SI
• Ahn KS
• Oh DS
• Ryu JS
• Shin SS

• KMID: 1097489
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2010.48.3.247

Abstract

Feline intestinal tritrichomoniasis by Tritrichomonas foetus was first recognized in USA in 1999 and has so far been reported from UK, Norway, Switzerland, and Australia, but not from the Far East Asian countries. In November 2008, 2 female and male littermate Siamese cats, 6-month old, raised in a household in Korea were referred from a local veterinary clinic with a history of chronic persistent diarrhea. A direct smear examination of fecal specimens revealed numerous trichomonad trophozoites which were isolated by the fecal culture in InPouch(TM) TF-Feline medium. A PCR testing of the isolate based on the amplification of a conserved portion of the T. foetus internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions (ITS1 and ITS2) and the 5.8S rRNA gene, and the molecular sequencing of the PCR amplicons confirmed infection with T. foetus. This is the first clinical case of feline intestinal trichomoniasis caused by T. foetus in Korea.

Keyword

Tritrichomonas foetus; cat; diarrhea; clinical case

MeSH Terms

Animals
Base Sequence
Cat Diseases/*parasitology
Cats
Feces/parasitology
Female
Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic/parasitology/*veterinary
Male
Molecular Sequence Data
Protozoan Infections, Animal/*parasitology
Republic of Korea
Tritrichomonas foetus/genetics/*isolation & purification