An 8-month old intact male Turkish Angora cat was referred to the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital (VMTH), Seoul National University, for an evaluation of anorexia and severe dyspnea. The thoracic radiographs revealed significant pleural effusion. A cytology evaluation of the pleural fluid strongly suggested a lymphoma containing variable sized lymphocytes with frequent mitotic figures and prominent nucleoli. The feline leukemia virus and feline immunodeficiency virus tests were negative. The cat was euthanized at his owner's request and a necropsy was performed. A mass was detected on the mediastinum and lung lobes. A histopathology evaluation confirmed the mass to be a lymphoma. Immunohistochemistry revealed the mass to be CD3 positive. In conclusion, the cat was diagnosed as a T-cell mediastinal lymphoma.
Animals ; Cat Diseases/*diagnosis/pathology ; Cats ; Lymphoma/diagnosis/pathology/*veterinary ; Male ; Mediastinal Neoplasms/diagnosis/pathology/*veterinary

A 1.6-year-old male domestic short hair cat was brought to the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, Kasetsart University, with signs of severe anemia, depression, and general lymph node enlargement. Complete blood count revealed leukocytosis and massive undifferentiated blasts. Testing for antibodies specific to feline leukemia virus (FeLV) was positive, and FeLV nucleic acid was confirmed by nested polymerase chain reaction. Base on cytochemistry and ultrastructure, the cat was diagnosed with acute monoblastic leukemia.
Animals ; Cat Diseases/*diagnosis/*virology ; Cats ; Leukemia Virus, Feline/*isolation & purification ; Leukemia, Monocytic, Acute/diagnosis/*veterinary/virology ; Male ; Osteoblasts/ultrastructure

OBJECTIVE: In order to raise awareness of CSD and reduce misdiagnosis, we study the manisfection and treatment of CSD with enlarged masses. METHOD: A retrospective study was carried out among the 10 identified patients with CSD on the basis of compatible clinical presentation and confirmatory pathology results for CSD. RESULT: All the 10 patient's first symptoms were masses at some part of the body, more common in the neck. The ratio was 5% at neck, 3% at armpit, 1% at upper, 1% at groin. Two patients had low heat, increased leukocyte and larger masses of more than 2 cm in diameter After surgical resection, and anti-inflammatory treatment. All the patients were cured after surgery and postoperative anti-inflammatory treatment, and there was no recurrence during the 7-year follow-up. CONCLUSION If patients were diagnosed and treated timely, the prognosis will be good. For the cases with extremely enlarged lymphonodus, surgical operation followed by antimicrobial chemotherapy will be a effective treatment.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Cat-Scratch Disease ; diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Lymphatic Diseases ; diagnosis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Young Adult

The increasing prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in the human population in the Republic of Korea (= Korea) is due to various reasons such as an increase in meat consumption. However, the importance of cats in transmitting T. gondii infection through oocysts to humans has seldom been assessed. A total of 300 fecal samples of stray cats captured around Seoul from June to August 2013 were examined for T. gondii B1 gene (indicating the presence of oocysts) using nested-PCR. Fourteen (4.7%) of 300 cats examined were positive for B1 gene. Female cats (7.5%) showed a higher prevalence than male cats (1.4%). Cats younger than 3 months (5.5%) showed a higher prevalence than cats (1.5%) older than 3 months. For laboratory passage of the positive samples, the fecal suspension (0.2 ml) of B1 gene positive cats was orally inoculated into experimental mice. Brain tissues of the mice were obtained after 40 days and examined for the presence of tissue cysts. Two isolates were successfully passaged (designated KNIH-1 and KNIH-2) and were molecularly analyzed using the SAG5D and SAG5E gene sequences. The SAG5D and SAG5E gene sequences showed high homologies with the ME49 strain (less virulent strain). The results indicated the importance of stray cats in transmitting T. gondii to humans in Korea, as revealed by detection of B1 gene in fecal samples. T. gondii isolates from cats were successfully passaged in the laboratory for the first time in Korea.
Animals ; Cat Diseases/diagnosis/epidemiology/*parasitology ; Cats ; Feces/*parasitology ; Female ; Genotype ; Humans ; Male ; Mice ; Protozoan Proteins/genetics ; Seoul/epidemiology ; Toxoplasma/genetics/*isolation & purification ; Toxoplasmosis/epidemiology/parasitology/transmission ; Toxoplasmosis, Animal/diagnosis/epidemiology/*parasitology

BACKGROUND: Cat scratch disease (CSD) manifests as a self-limiting, regional lymphadenopathy, fever and constitutional symptoms following a cat scratch or close contact with cats. Bartonella henselae is a causative agent of CSD that is globally distributed. In Korea there are no case report of CSD and no reports on the seroprevalence of Bartonella henselae in patients with suspected CSD. In this study the prevalence of antibodies to Bartonella in patients with lymphadenopathies was evaluated. METHODS: We evaluated serological responses of 31 patients (8 male, 23 female) with regional lymphadenopathies. The age of the patients ranged from 6 to 76 years old (mean+/-S.D., 30.6+/-14.3 years). Final diagnoses on the lymphadenopathies were tuberculous lymphadenopathy, Kikuchi's disease, Kawasaki's disease, and viral infection, but considerable cases remained undiagnosed. All sera were examined using MRL Diagnostics Bartonella IgG indirect immunofluorescent antibody (IFA) test kits (MRL Diagnostics, Cypress, California, USA) according to the manufac-turer's instructions. RESULTS: Of the 31 patients, 21 (67.7%) patients showed positive titers of immunoglobulin G (IgG) to B. henselae (1 : 64 or higher). Twelve (38.7%) had IgG titers of 1 : 128 and four (12.9%) had titers of 1 : 256. Among these patients, three patients had a history of close contact with a cat or cat scratch. Twenty patients (64.5%) showed positive reactions against B. quintana. CONCLUSION: This study revealed possible patients with cat scratch disease, but, unlike other countries, Bartonella seropositivity was not closely associated with cat contact. The further studies should be performed in a large number of patients including a control group and be accompanied with culture or polymerase chain reaction of extirpated lymph node.
Aged ; Animals ; Antibodies* ; Bartonella henselae* ; Bartonella quintana* ; Bartonella* ; California ; Cat-Scratch Disease ; Cats ; Cupressus ; Diagnosis ; Fever ; Histiocytic Necrotizing Lymphadenitis ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Korea ; Lymph Nodes ; Lymphatic Diseases* ; Male ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prevalence* ; Seroepidemiologic Studies

In April 2010, pruritic symptoms were recognized in 3 privately-owned Siamese cats raised in Gwangju, Korea. Examination of ear canals revealed dark brown, ceruminous otic exudates that contain numerous live mites at various developmental stages. Based on morphological characteristics of adult mites in which caruncles were present on legs 1 and 2 in adult females and on legs 1, 2, 3, and 4 in adult males while the tarsus of leg 3 in both sexes was equipped with 2 long setae, the mite was identified as Otodectes cynotis. Ten ear mite-free domestic shorthaired cats were experimentally infected with O. cynotis to evaluate the efficacy of 10% imidacloprid/1% moxidectin spot-on. Live mites were recovered from 1 of 10 treated cats on day 9 post-treatment (PT) while no live mites were observed from the ear canals of treated cats on days 16 and 30 PT. The efficacy of 10% imidacloprid/1% moxidectin spot-on on O. cynotis in cats was, therefore, 90% on day 9 and 100% on days 16 and 30 PT. This is the first report of otodectosis in 3 cats naturally infested with O. cynotis in Gwang-ju, Korea. Both natural and experimental infestations were successfully treated with 10% imidacloprid/1% moxidectin spot-on.
Acaricides/*administration & dosage ; Administration, Topical ; Animals ; Cat Diseases/*diagnosis/*drug therapy ; Cats ; Ear Diseases/diagnosis/drug therapy/veterinary ; Female ; Imidazoles/*administration & dosage ; Macrolides/*administration & dosage ; Male ; Mite Infestations/diagnosis/drug therapy/*veterinary ; Nitro Compounds/*administration & dosage ; Psoroptidae/*growth & development ; Republic of Korea ; Solutions/administration & dosage ; Treatment Outcome

Tapeworms of the genus Spirometra are pseudophyllidean cestodes endemic in Korea. At present, it is unclear which Spirometra species are responsible for causing human infections, and little information is available on the epidemiological profiles of Spirometra species infecting humans in Korea. Between 1979 and 2009, a total of 50 spargana from human patients and 2 adult specimens obtained from experimentally infected carnivorous animals were analyzed according to genetic and taxonomic criteria and classified as Spirometra erinaceieuropaei or Spirometra decipiens depending on the morphology. Morphologically, S. erinaceieuropaei and S. decipiens are different in that the spirally coiled uterus in S. erinaceieuropaei has 5-7 complete coils, while in S. decipiens it has only 4.5 coils. In addition, there is a 9.3% (146/1,566) sequence different between S. erinaceieuropaei and S. decipiens in the cox1 gene. Partial cox1 sequences (390 bp) from 35 Korean isolates showed 99.4% (388/390) similarity with the reference sequence of S. erinaceieuropaei from Korea (G1724; GenBank KJ599680) and an additional 15 Korean isolates revealed 99.2% (387/390) similarity with the reference sequences of S. decipiens from Korea (G1657; GenBank KJ599679). Based on morphologic and molecular databases, the estimated population ratio of S. erinaceieuropaei to S. decipiens was 35: 15. Our results indicate that both S. erinaceieuropaei and S. decipiens found in Korea infect humans, with S. erinaceieuropaei being 2 times more prevalent than S. decipiens. This study is the first to report human sparganosis caused by S. decipiens in humans in Korea.
Adult ; Aged ; Animals ; Cat Diseases/parasitology ; Cats ; Dog Diseases/parasitology ; Dogs ; Electron Transport Complex IV/genetics ; Female ; Helminth Proteins/genetics ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Sparganosis/diagnosis/*parasitology ; Spirometra/anatomy & histology/classification/*genetics/*isolation & purification ; Young Adult

Rapid serodiagnostic methods for Toxoplasma gondii infection in cats are urgently needed for effective control of transmission routes toward human infections. In this work, 4 recombinant T. gondii antigens (SAG1, SAG2, GRA3, and GRA6) were produced and tested for the development of rapid diagnostic test (RDT). The proteins were expressed in Escherichia coli, affinity-purified, and applied onto the nitrocellulose membrane of the test strip. The recombinant SAG1 (rSAG1) showed the strongest antigenic activity and highest specificity among them. We also performed clinical evaluation of the rSAG1-loaded RDT in 182 cat sera (55 household and 127 stray cats). The kit showed 0.88 of kappa value comparing with a commercialized ELISA kit, which indicated a significant correlation between rSAG1-loaded RDT and the ELISA kit. The overall sensitivity and specificity of the RDT were 100% (23/23) and 99.4% (158/159), respectively. The rSAG1-loaded RDT is rapid, easy to use, and highly accurate. Thus, it would be a suitable diagnostic tool for rapid detection of antibodies in T. gondii-infected cats under field conditions.
Animals ; Antigens, Protozoan/*diagnostic use/genetics ; Cat Diseases/*diagnosis ; Cats ; Chromatography, Affinity ; Escherichia coli/genetics ; *Point-of-Care Systems ; Protozoan Proteins/*diagnostic use/genetics ; Recombinant Proteins/diagnostic use/genetics ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Serologic Tests/methods ; Toxoplasma/genetics ; Toxoplasmosis, Animal/*diagnosis ; Veterinary Medicine/*methods

Two cats were presented with vestibular signs and seizures. Both cats were diagnosed with thiamine deficiency. The transverse and dorsal T2-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) images revealed the presence of bilateral hyperintense lesions at specific nuclei of the midbrain, cerebellum, and brainstem. After thiamine supplementation, the clinical signs gradually improved. Repeated MR images taken 3 weeks after thiamine supplementation had started showed that the lesions were nearly resolved. This case report describes the clinical and MR findings associated with thiamine deficiency in two cats.
Animals ; Brain Stem/pathology ; Cat Diseases/chemically induced/*diagnosis/*drug therapy ; Cats ; Cerebellum/pathology ; Diet/veterinary ; Dietary Supplements/analysis ; Female ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging/veterinary ; Male ; Mesencephalon/pathology ; Seizures/chemically induced/pathology/veterinary ; Thiamine/administration & dosage/*therapeutic use ; Thiamine Deficiency/chemically induced/diagnosis/drug therapy/*veterinary ; Treatment Outcome

Neck mass can be frequently encountered in pediatric patients. Most neck mass in pediatric patients are either inflammatory lesions or benign tumors but their differential diagnoses are not always easy. We must not forget the study results that a considerable portion of pediatric neck mass constitutes malignant tumors. Generally neck mass can be divided into inflammatory, developmental (congenital), and tumorous lesions. Developmental neck mass are generally thyroglossal duct cyst, branchial cleft cyst, dermoid cyst, vascular malformation, or hemangioma. Manifestations of inflammatory neck mass are reactive cervical lymphadenopathy, infectious lymphadenitis (viral or bacterial), mycobacterial cervical lymphadenopathy, or Kawasaki disease. The more uncommonly found pediatric malignant neck mass are lymphoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, or thyroid carcinoma. For the diagnosis of pediatric neck mass complete blood count, purified protein derivative test for tuberculosis, and measurement of titers for Epstein-Barr virus are required and in special cases, infectious diagnostic panels for cat-scratch disease, cytomegalovirus, human immunodeficiency virus, or toxoplasmosis may be needed. Ultrasonography is the most convenient and feasible diagnostic method in differentiating various neck mass. Computed tomography is performed when identifying the anatomical aspects of the neck mass or where deep neck infection or retropharyngeal abscess is suspected. Surgical management for congenital neck mass is recommended to prevent secondary infection or various complications following size increase. Most pediatric neck mass originate from bacterial lymphadenitis and antibacterial therapy is considered first line of conservative treatment. However if the neck mass is either over 2 cm in size without any evidence of inflammation, firm or fixed to surrounding tissue, accompanied by B symptoms, unresponsive to initial antibacterial therapy or over 4 weeks of conservative management, or considered keep growing for over 2 weeks, one must suspect the possibility of malignancy and must consult a head and neck specialist for further detailed evaluation.
Blood Cell Count ; Branchioma ; Cat-Scratch Disease ; Coinfection ; Cytomegalovirus ; Dermoid Cyst ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Head ; Hemangioma ; Herpesvirus 4, Human ; HIV ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Lymphadenitis ; Lymphatic Diseases ; Lymphoma ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome ; Neck* ; Retropharyngeal Abscess ; Rhabdomyosarcoma ; Specialization ; Thyroglossal Cyst ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Toxoplasmosis ; Tuberculosis ; Ultrasonography ; Vascular Malformations