Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2023 Nov 8:2023:7867562.
doi: 10.1155/2023/7867562. eCollection 2023.

The Global Molecular Prevalence of Bartonella spp. in Cats and Dogs: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Aya Attia Koraney Zarea  1   2 , Maria Tempesta  1 , Amienwanlen Eugene Odigie  1   3 , Daniela Mrenoshki  1 , Angela Fanelli  1 , Vito Martella  1 , Nicola Decaro  1 , Grazia Greco  1
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

The Global Molecular Prevalence of Bartonella spp. in Cats and Dogs: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Aya Attia Koraney Zarea et al. Transbound Emerg Dis. .

Abstract

Bartonella species are vector-borne infectious pathogens with a severe impact on animal and human health. This comprehensive systematic review aimed to perform a meta-analysis to evaluate the global impact of this pathogen on pet health. A literature search was performed on electronic databases (Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus) to find relevant peer-reviewed published papers (n = 131). A random-effects model was employed to calculate pooled prevalence estimates, and Q-statistic and I 2 index were used to assess the heterogeneity. Based on 20.133 cats and 9.824 dogs, the global prevalence estimates were 15.3% and 3.6%. The heterogeneity was significantly high in both species, with I 2 = 95.8%, p-value <0.0001, and I 2 = 87.7%, p-value <0.0001 in cats and dogs, respectively. The meta-analysis conducted using location coordinates showed a consistently high prevalence in regions located between latitudes -40 to -30 or latitudes 30-40 in both populations, in agreement with the pure spatial analysis results, which computed significantly high relative risk areas within these region coordinates. When analyzing cat data for other subgroup moderators, Bartonella spp. prevalence was higher in animals of young age (<1 year, p-value = 0.001), with a free roaming lifestyle (p-value <0.0001) and/or having ectoparasite infestation (p-value = 0.004). Globally, among the Bartonella species detected in cats, Bartonella henselae was the most frequent (13.05%), followed by Bartonella clarridgeiae (1.7%) and Bartonella koehlerae (0.11%). When considering Bartonella henselae genotype distribution, high heterogeneity (p < 0.0001) was observed based on geographical subgroups. Dogs displayed infection by Bartonella vinsonii subsp. berkhoffii (1.1%), B. henselae (1%), Candidatus B. merieuxii (0.9%) and B. rochalimae (0.38%). The present study provides a global picture of the epidemiological distribution of Bartonella spp. in cat and dog populations that may be pivotal for implementing proper preventive and control measures.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

All authors have a specialist interest in One Health and zoonotic diseases. The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart for the selection of the studies included in the systematic review and meta-analysis of Bartonella infections in cat and dog populations.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Patterns of significant pure spatial scan statistic clusters (indicated by blue circles for cats and red circles for dogs) of Bartonella spp. infection. (b) Patterns of not significant clusters in cats.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Global mapping of feline Bartonella spp. infections. (a) Bartonella species represented per sampling site coordinates. (b) Prevalence estimates of Bartonella spp. per country.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Global mapping of canine Bartonella spp. infections. (a) Bartonella species represented per sampling site coordinates. (b) Prevalence estimates of Bartonella spp. per country.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Brenner D. J., O’Connor S. P., Winkler H. H., Steigerwalt A. G. Proposals to unify the genera Bartonella and Rochalimaea, with descriptions of Bartonella quintana comb. nov., Bartonella vinsonii comb. nov., Bartonella henselae comb. nov., and Bartonella elizabethae comb. nov., and to remove the family Bartonellaceae from the order rickettsiales. International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology . 1993;43(4):777–786. doi: 10.1099/00207713-43-4-777. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Breitschwerdt E. B., Kordick D. L. Bartonella infection in animals: carriership, reservoir potential, pathogenicity, and zoonotic potential for human infection. Clinical Microbiology Reviews . 2000;13(3):428–438. doi: 10.1128/CMR.13.3.428. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gutiérrez R., Nachum-Biala Y., Harrus S. Relationship between the presence of Bartonella species and bacterial loads in cats and cat fleas (Ctenocephalides felis) under natural conditions. Applied and Environmental Microbiology . 2015;81(16):5613–5621. doi: 10.1128/AEM.01370-15. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Álvarez-Fernández A., Breitschwerdt E. B., Solano-Gallego L. Bartonella infections in cats and dogs including zoonotic aspects. Parasites & Vectors . 2018;11(1) doi: 10.1186/s13071-018-3152-6.624 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Greco G., Zarea A., Sgroi G., et al. Zoonotic Bartonella species in Eurasian wolves and other free-ranging wild mammals from Italy. Zoonoses and Public Health . 2021;68(4):316–326. doi: 10.1111/zph.12827. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources