Feline leprosy due to Mycobacterium lepraemurium: Further clinical and molecular characterisation of 23 previously reported cases and an additional 42 cases

Abstract

Objectives: This paper, the second in a series of three on ‘feline leprosy’, provides a detailed description of disease referable to Mycobacterium lepraemurium, the most common cause of feline leprosy worldwide. Methods: Cases were sourced retrospectively and prospectively for this observational study, describing clinical, geographical and molecular microbiological data for cats definitively diagnosed with M lepraemurium infection. Results: A total of 145 cases of feline leprosy were scrutinised; 114 ‘new’ cases were sourced from the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory records, veterinary pathology laboratories or veterinarians, and 31 cases were derived from six published stu..