Clinically Healthy Infected Cats
Clinically healthy infected cats are antibody-positive (and/or PCR-positive) cats with no clinical signs and clinicopathological abnormalities compatible with FeL. These cats may have coinfections or other diseases, and it is recommended to follow up L. infantum infection considering their risk to develop FeL (Figure 11).
Figure 16. Management of cats with serological and/or PCR-positive positivity for L. infantum and no clinical signs and clinicopathological abnormalities compatible with FeL (clinically healthy infected cats)
BM: Bone marrow – FeLV: Feline leukemia virus – FIV: Feline immunodeficiency virus – LN: Lymph node
A cat will be considered with leishmaniosis if histopathological findings are compatible with leishmaniosis and IHC or PCR are positive.
It is not common to visualize amastigotes in histology and therefore, IHC is always recommended. If IHC is negative, PCR is also recommended.