Evaluation of hepatitis E virus infection status in domestic cats with symptoms of diarrhea and vomiting by measuring some blood parameters and indirect ELISA serological method

Subject Areas : Veterinary Clinical Pathology

Elnaz Jahanbakhshi ¹ , m. neshat ^{2 *} , younes anzabi ³

1 - -D.V.M. Graduate, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Tabriz Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran
2 - depar
3 - دانشیار گروه پاتوبیولوژی دانشکده دامپزشکی دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی واحد تبریز

Received: 2024-10-17 Accepted : 2025-10-22 Published : 2025-09-28

Keywords: Domestic cats, Digestive system, Hepatitis E, Seroprevalence, Indirect ELISA,

Abstract :

Pets are often exposed to the hepatitis E virus and therefore, potentially, the amount of anti-virus antibodies is higher in veterinarians and employees of pet breeding and care centers. Also, although the clinical symptoms of hepatitis E disease in cats are not well described, the evidence of positive serum in this regard has been shown to a large extent in cats with symptoms of diarrhea and vomiting. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to diagnose hepatitis E zoonotic virus infection in domestic cats with symptoms of diarrhea and vomiting using indirect ELISA method.

For this purpose, 100 domestic cat collars that had symptoms of diarrhea and vomiting, as well as the other 100 domestic cat collars that were apparently completely healthy in terms of digestive symptoms and were referred for reasons other than digestive diseases.

Among the cases referred to the specialized hospital of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Tabriz Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, they were selected by a simple random method. In the following, blood was taken from all the cats and while performing hematological tests, after preparing the relevant serum , the indirect ELISA method and the corresponding specific kit were used for the laboratory diagnosis of hepatitis E. According to the findings, only one sample (0.5% of cases) was within the range of positive cases (related to the blood sample of a 3-year-old domestic male cat collar).  Generally, no significant serum infection with hepatitis E was detected in domestic cats in Tabriz city.

 

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