Chlamydophila felis in cats--are the stray cats dangerous source of infection?

Chlamydophila felis is a causative agent of acute or chronic conjunctivitis, and pneumonia in cats. Natural transmission mostly occurs consequently to close contact with other infected cats, their aerosol and fomites. We have examined 93 cats with symptoms of acute or chronic conjunctivitis, from Košice region in Slovakia, during the period of 2 years. Conjunctival samples were obtained from 55 domestic cats (59.14%) and 38 stray cats (40.86%). Of the total number of 93 examined animals, 42 cats were positive, which represents 45.16% overall positivity. Out of the 42 positive cats, 25 cats were stray and 17 positive cats were classified as domestic, which means that of 38 stray cats, 25 were positive (which represented 65.78% positivity) and of 55 domestic cats, 17 were positive (positivity was 30.90%). Our results showed that cats, especially stray cats, could be a dangerous source of chlamydiosis for humans.