Transmission of Cytauxzoon felis by injection of Amblyomma americanum salivary glands.

Background: Cytauxzoonosis is a life-threatening disease of cats, caused by the tick-borne piroplasmid hemoparasite, Cytauxzoon felis. Current experimental models for cytauxzoonosis rely on either tick transmission or direct injection of infected cat tissues. These models require researchers to directly work with infected ticks or use cats with acute cytauxzoonosis.

A Novel Vaccine Strategy to Prevent Cytauxzoonosis in Domestic Cats.

Cytauxzoonosis is caused by (), a tick-borne parasite that causes severe disease in domestic cats in the United States. Currently, there is no vaccine to prevent this fatal disease, as traditional vaccine development strategies have been limited by the inability to culture this parasite in vitro. Here, we used a replication-defective human adenoviral vector (AdHu5) to deliver -specific immunogenic antigens and induce a cell-mediated and humoral immune response in cats.