BRIEF COMMUNICATION The first detection of Cytauxzoon felis in a wild cat (Felis silvestris) in Iran Mahdieh Zaeemi & Gholam Reza Razmi & Javad Khoshnegah Received: 12 November 2013 /Accepted: 3 February 2014 # Springer-Verlag London 2014 Abstract A free-ranging, adult, male Arabian wild cat (Felis silvestris) was found in a protected zone at the province of Khorasan, Iran and transported to the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad Veterinary Teaching Hospital. The cat had normal temperature and respiratory and cardiac frequency, but was significantly dehydrated and had hindlimb lameness. The animal also was cachectic, with pale mucus membranes, third eyelid protrusion, and bilaterally enlarged submandibular lymph nodes. The cat was stabilized by intensive fluid and electrolyte therapy and hospitalized. In radiographic evalua- tions, comminuted and multiple fracture of the right femoral bone in midshaft with fissure fracture was seen. Hematologic analysis revealed parasitemia (0.5 %) and a mild normocytic normochromic anemia, neutrophilia, eosinopenia, lymphope- nia, and parasite consistent with Cytauxzoon felis. In addition, biochemical changes included increased liver enzyme serum activity and increased serum concentration of cholesterol, bilirubin, glucose, protein, and fibrinogen. The results of molecular analyses confirmed the presence of C. felis piro- plasm in the blood of the cat. The cat was treated with Tazocin and clindamycin for 4 days. This is the first detection of a C. felis in wild Felidae in Iran. Because most Iranian wild felids are endangered, knowing whether Cytauxzoon infection represents a threat for these animals is important. Keywords Cytauxzoon felis . Felis silvestris . Iran Introduction Cytauxzoonosis is a tick-borne disease of domestic and wild felids caused by Cytauxzoon felis (Karaca et al. 2007). Sea- sonal incidence of this disease correlated with tick activity (Meinkoth and Kocan 2005). C. felis is a genus of phylum Apicomplexa, order Piroplasmida, and family Theileridae (Brown 2010). The life cycle of C. felis is composed of two stages including intraerythrocytic phase known as a piroplasm and intraleukocytic phase termed a schizont (Meinkoth and Kocan 2005). Piroplasms are observed in red blood cells (RBCs) as single signet-shaped, bipolar oval form, tetrads and dots (Meinkoth and Kocan 2005; Kier et al. 1987) and commonly cause features of hemolytic anemia (Meier and Moore 2000). In the leukocyte phase, large macrophages containing C. felis schizonts are responsible for vessel blood occlusion in various organs such as the liver, lung, lymph node, bone marrow, and spleen (Shock et al. 2011; Snider et al. 2010). Bobcats are natural reservoirs of C. felis and rarely display clinical signs (Haber et al. 2007). Rapid diagnosis is based on the microscopic identification of piroplasms within RBCs. In addition, diagnosis may be made by identifying the tissue phase in stained biopsy or aspiration specimens of affected organs. There is currently no serological test for detection of this parasite. There is a commercial molecular assay with high specificity and sensitivity for detection of C. felis that is recommended for use in epidemiological studies (Brown 2010). Although most infections have been described in wooded areas of south central, south eastern, and mild Atlan- tic state of the USA (Meier and Moore 2000; Carli et al. 2012), there are reports of clinical and subclinical cytauxzoonosis in other countries such as Italy, Spain, Turkey, and Brazil (Carli et al. 2012; André et al. 2009; Millan et al. 2007). Here we report the first detection of C. felis infection in a wild cat (Felis silvestris) from Iran. M. Zaeemi (*) : J. Khoshnegah Department of Clinical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, P.O. Box, 91775-1793 Mashhad, Iran e-mail: Zaeemi@um.ac.ir G. R. Razmi Department of Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran Comp Clin Pathol DOI 10.1007/s00580-014-1898-6