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Toxoplasmosis in Pallas' cats (Otocolobus manul) raised in captivity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2004

W. BASSO ,
R. EDELHOFER ,
W. ZENKER ,
K. MÖSTL ,
A. KÜBBER-HEISS  and
H. PROSL
W. BASSO
Affiliation:
Cátedra de Parasitología y Enfermedades Parasitarias, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Nacional de la Plata, Argentina
R. EDELHOFER
Affiliation:
Institute for Parasitology and Zoology, Department for Pathobiology, Veterinärmedizinische Universität Wien, Austria
W. ZENKER
Affiliation:
Tiergarten Schönbrunn, Wien, Austria
K. MÖSTL
Affiliation:
Clinical Virology, Department for Diagnostics, Veterinärmedizinische Universität Wien, Austria
A. KÜBBER-HEISS
Affiliation:
Institut für Pathologie und gerichtliche Veterinärmedizin, Veterinärmedizinische Universität Wien, Austria
H. PROSL
Affiliation:
Institute for Parasitology and Zoology, Department for Pathobiology, Veterinärmedizinische Universität Wien, Austria
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Abstract

Manuls or Pallas' cats (Felis manul, syn. Otocolobus manul) are endangered wild cats from Central Asia kept and bred in many zoos. Despite good breeding success young cats frequently die from acute toxoplasmosis. From 1998 to 2002, a breeding pair in the Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna, Austria, gave birth to 24 kittens; 58% of kittens died between the 2nd and the 14th week of life, mostly due to acute toxoplasmosis. The epidemiology of toxoplasmosis in Pallas' cats was examined and a control strategy to protect the kittens from fatal toxoplasmosis was developed. One 12-week-old kitten from a litter of 6 born in 2001 died of generalized toxoplasmosis. This kitten had shed T. gondii oocysts that were bioassayed in mice. Toxoplasma gondii was isolated in tissue culture inoculated with tissues of these mice. The surviving animals were immediately treated with clindamycin for 16 weeks; they acquired a natural infection and seroconverted by the end of this time without clinical signs.

Keywords

Pallas' cat (Felis manul, Otocolobus manul)pre- and post-natal Toxoplasma-infectionclinicserologyisolation
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 130 , Issue 3 , March 2005 , pp. 293 - 299
Copyright
2004 Cambridge University Press

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