Epidemiological investigations on microbial infection and crystals causing feline lower urinary tract disease in tomcats in Ismailia, Egypt

Abstract

Background: Feline lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD) is a common disorder associated with the dysfunction of the urinary bladder or urethra in tomcats.

Aim: A prospective study was carried out on the point prevalence and odds ratio (OR) of the FLUTD in Shirazi and Baladi tomcats at Ismailia Governorate, Egypt, recording the prominent clinical manifestation and identifying the antibiogram, virulence, and antimicrobial resistance genes of the causative microorganisms.

Methods: A total number of 420 tomcats admitted to the veterinary clinics of Ismailia during the period June 2020 to May 2021 were examined for FLUTD. A total of 1,260 urine samples were collected and analyzed.

Results: Hematuria, dysuria, and pollakiuria were the most evident signs recorded in a total of 120 tomcats diagnosed with FLUTD. The diagnosed cases of FLUTD were associated with causes like crystals (35.83%), pyogenic microorganisms (19.16%), and mixed cases (45.00%). The prevalence revealed highly significant (p < 0.01) increases in the cases caused by Escherichia coli, E. coli mixed cases, and calcium oxalate at >4 years; Staphylococcus aureus at ≤ 2 years; amorphous urate and phosphate at 2-4 and >4 years in Shirazi and ≤2 years in Baladi; triple phosphate at ≤2 years in Shirazi and >4 years in Baladi; and S. aureus mixed cases at ≤2 years. The OR of FLUTD revealed higher odds of associations with E. coli, E. coli mixed cases, S. aureus, amorphous urate, and triple phosphate, as well as lower odds with S. aureus, calcium oxalate, amorphous phosphate, and S. aureus mixed cases. Isolated E. coli revealed higher resistance to amoxicillin (AMX, 83.4%), ceftriaxone (83.4%), ceftazidime (CAZ, 75.0%), and cefoxitin (FOX, 50.0%), and S. aureus to oxacillin (100%), FOX (100%), AMX (85.8%), CAZ (76.2%), and FOX (50.0%). S. aureus-detected virulence genes were mecA, coa, spa, and tetK, and E. coli were fimH, iss, iutA, papC, blaTEM, blaCTX-M, and tetA. About 100% of E. coli and 76.1% of S. aureus isolates exhibited multidrug resistance.

Conclusion: FLUTD in tomcats is associated with higher odds in E. coli, E. coli mixed cases, and triple phosphate at older ages (>4 years) with high antimicrobial resistance in the microbial isolates contributing to the disease.

Keywords: Antibiotic resistance; Crystals; Feline lower urinary tract disease; Prevalence; Virulence.

Fig. 1.. Antibiotics’ sensitivity patterns in the isolated E. coli and S. aureus.

Fig. 2.. (A) PCR amplification of the specific gene of S. aureus (coa) at 630 bp. (B) PCR amplification of the specific gene of S. aureus (spa) at 226 bp. (C) PCR amplification of the specific gene of S. aureus (mecA) at 310 bp. (D) PCR amplification of the specific gene of S. aureus (tetK) at 364 bp.

Fig. 3.. (A) PCR amplification of the specific gene of E. coli (iutA) at 300 bp. (B) PCR amplification of the specific gene of E. coli (iss) at 226 bp. (C) PCR amplification of the specific gene of E. coli (papC) at 501 bp. (D) PCR amplification of the specific gene of E. coli (fimH) at 508 bp.

Fig. 4.. (A) PCR amplification of the specific gene of E. coli (bla_CTX-M) at 593 bp. (B) PCR amplification of the specific gene of E. coli (bla_TEM) at 516 bp. (C) PCR amplification of the specific gene of E. coli (tetA) at 576 bp.