Within-Season Changes in Cytauxzoon felis Parasitemia in Bobcats.

Cytauxzoon felis is a pathogen responsible for cytauxzoonosis, a highly fatal disease in domestic cats. Although most studies of C. felis have focused on this parasite in domestic cats, bobcats are the reservoir host. In stark contrast, there is little information relative to the progression of C. felis infections in bobcats. We studied bobcats in southern Illinois during 2014-2017 to evaluate which environmental factors (i.e., ambient temperature; number of daylight hours; trapping year, month, and day) influenced C. felis parasitemia levels. Mean ambient temperature at 1 wk and 2 wk prior to sampling was associated with increased parasitemia levels. Vector activity intensifies with higher temperatures, suggesting that increased parasitemia levels are an adaptation to facilitate transmission.

Is lack of suitable housing a barrier to home-based dialysis therapy for patients with end-stage renal disease? A cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether inadequate housing is the main barrier to the provision of home dialysis treatment. DESIGN: Prospective observational study. PARTICIPANTS: All patients attending a predialysis clinic between 2006 and 2009 deemed medically suitable for home dialysis and not active on the preemptive transplant list. SETTING: A predialysis clinic in a London teaching hospital. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Assessment of patient's accommodation for suitability for home-based dialysis using departmental guidelines and the Government's Housing Health and Safety Rating System regulations 2005. RESULTS: A lack of adequate housing prohibited the provision of home haemodialysis to all but one of these patients. Moreover, only 29% of homes assessed were suitable for peritoneal dialysis, despite the lower spatial demands of this form of renal replacement therapy. In addition to the specific requirements of dialysis, we also found that only 33% of the homes visited fulfilled the minimum standard of housing as defined in the Government's Decent Homes Standard, with multiple specific hazards identified across the properties. CONCLUSIONS: This study illustrates that the lack of suitable housing is a major barrier to the provision of home-based dialysis and underscores the need for this to be addressed urgently at both the central government and local authority levels. We suggest that it should be considered as a major priority to rehouse medically suitable patients with a view to enabling home-based therapy.