Burkholderia-Associated Ocular Disease in Cats

Introduction: Upper respiratory tract disease (URTD) is common in cats, particularly in multi-cat environments such as shelters. The disease can lead to severe ocular pathology and, in some cases, may require enucleation due to endophthalmitis or panophthalmitis. Methods: Eyes from 16 young cats with URTD that were enucleated because of severe ocular disease (previously ruptured or markedly buphthalmic eyes) were evaluated using Next Generation DNA Sequencing (NGS) with universal bacterial primers to evaluate the entire bacterial population. Eyes were assessed for the presence of feline herpesvirus-1 (FHV-1) and feline calicivirus (FCV) by qPCR and RT-qPCR, respectively. Results: All eyes had a high relative abundance of Burkholderia, ranging from 43.8 to 98.3%. Burkholderia was the most abundant bacterial genus in 15 of the 16 samples (94%). Of the 16 samples, 8 were positive for FHV-1 (50%), while 1 was positive for FCV (6%). Conclusion: This study identified an organism that has not been previously associated with severe ocular disease in cats with URTD, and provides a new approach to understanding pathogens by evaluating entire bacterial populations rather than targeting specific microorganisms.