Detection and molecular characterisation of feline viruses from swab samples

Abstract

Feline calicivirus (FCV), feline alphaherpesvirus 1 (FHV-1) and feline panleukopenia virus (FPLV) as well as retroviral agents such as feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) are important viral pathogens of cats. The aim of this study was to detect and characterise FHV-1, FPLV, FeLV, FIV and feline foamy virus (FFV) in oropharyngeal, nasal and conjunctival swabs from 93 cats that had been screened for FCV previously. We wanted to determine the possible risk factors for infection with these viruses. The prevalence was found to be 12.9% for FHV-1 and 9.7% for FPLV. FIV was detected only in two samples and FeLV in one sample, whereas the presence of FFV was not demonstrated in any of the clinical samples. The statistical analysis of the results showed that breed, age, health status, and lifestyle are important predisposing factors to FHV-1 (P < 0.05). For FPLV, only clinically unhealthy animals were found to be at risk (P < 0.001). Sequence analysis revealed that the two FIV-positive samples in this study contained different (A and B) subtypes of the virus. This is the first report on the occurrence of subtype A FIV in Turkey.

A Retrospective Study of Viral Molecular Prevalences in Cats in Southern Italy (Campania Region)

“…Widely used vaccines protect well against the disease but do not prevent infection or developmental status of the carrier [55]. In our study, the prevalence of FHV-1 (9%; 95% CI 5.36-12.74) was low and similar to prevalence values described in Switzerland (8-9%) and Turkey (12.9%) [33,56], while lower values were found in Spain (2.6%) [57]. In contrast, significantly higher prevalence values of 61.3%, 16.3%, and 17.3% were found instead in France, China, and Australia, respectively [32,58,59].…”

“…Nevertheless, little is known about the molecular prevalence of FPV in cats in other regions of Italy. The molecular prevalence values reported in our study were also higher than in other studies conducted in Portugal, Egypt, Turkey, and China, where the prevalences found were 58%, 45.5%, 9.7%, and 19.2%, respectively [30][31][32][33]. A possible explanation for the high percentage of positive FPV samples we found could be related, in part, to false-positive results associated with the administration of modified live vaccine within the previous 2 weeks, as also suggested by Paris et al 2014 [34] in a study conducted in the United Kingdom.…”

A Scoping Review of the Evidence on Prevalence of Feline Upper Respiratory Tract Infections and Associated Risk Factors

“…Three studies found that animals younger than 12 months showed a higher rate of clinical signs [ 9 , 16 , 25 ]. One study found that adults between 12 and 36 months showed a greater number of positive PCR test results for FHV [ 12 ], while Dinnage, Scarlett [ 3 ] found that geriatric cats over the age of 11 years showed a significantly higher prevalence of clinical signs. Of the remaining studies, two found no significant difference in shedding between age groups [ 31 , 32 ], two assessed the impact of age on serum antibody titres [ 33 , 34 ], and one study only reported on the effect of age in relation to vaccination status [ 26 ].…”

“…Several studies reported on co-infection as a single percent of the total sample for example, Becker, Monteiro [ 39 ]) without a meaningful breakdown of the specific pathogens that were co-detected. Many studies also included several common non-respiratory feline pathogens: Abayli, Can-Sahna [ 12 ] found that FHV and FCV often co-occurred in animals with feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and feline panleukopenia virus (FPLV), while Bayraktar and Yilmaz [ 50 ] reported on the frequency of FHV occurring with FIV and feline leukemia virus (FeLV). It is likely that the presence of one pathogen influences the behaviour of the others, especially in high-density settings [ 25 ], yet these relationships were not assessed by any of the studies.…”

“…A preliminary literature search by the authors found that several population-level studies evaluated the associations of feline URI with various risk factors, reported on disease frequency and tested the feasibility of different diagnostic and sampling methods. Evidence suggests that age, gender, breed and presence of clinical signs are likely predictive of URI in some contexts [ 12 , 13 , 14 ], but the generality of these associations is not known. High-stress housing (e.g., group housing, litter trays in proximity to living areas, high foot traffic and multiple species within hearing and smelling distance) is noted for its potential contribution [ 15 ].…”