PREVALENCE OF TOXOCARA CATI INFECTION AND MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION IN DOMESTIC AND STRAY CATS IN THE KARBALA PROVINCE, IRAQ.

Abstract

Toxocara (T.) cati is the feline parasite nematode a member of the Ascarididae family In the fourth week of their life, kittens excrete eggs along with their feces. This first study in Karbala province performed to determine the prevalence and identify precisely Toxocara cati, which infects cats based on molecular approaches. One hundred fecal samples of cats were gathered for the molecular detection of infection in stray and domestic cats and extended from January to October 2023.Detection of T. cati was conducted by utilizing the conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique with the impact of the risk factor. The results showed that 36% of cats were positive for the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) ribosomal RNA in cats. A significant correlation was found between the lifestyle, age and infection rates, and the infection rate between the stray cats was higher (58%) than domestic cats which was (14%). Moreover, and regarding the sex-related differences, no significant T. cati infection rates have been observed. Even though, seasonal differences in the infection rates were detected as highest in January.The PCR based molecular analysis of T. cati isolates indicated high percentage of similarities with strains from different geographical regions. Therefore, these results indicated a diverse and wildly spreads genetic lineage of  T. cati and the similarities percentage were between 97.59% to 100% in different countries like Turkey, Iran, France, Germany, and New Zealand.

Key words: Cats, polymerase chain reaction, Karbala, Toxocariasis, Toxocara cati .