Detection of feline coronaviruses by culture and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction of blood samples from healthy cats and cats with clinical feline infectious peritonitis

Abstract

A reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay for the detection of the feline coronavirus (FCoV) genome and a co-cultivation method for the isolation of field strains of FCoV are described. Using the RT-PCR assay to assess blood samples from cats with feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) (n = 47) and healthy cats from households with endemic FCoV (n = 69) it was shown that approximately 80% of the cats were viraemic, irrespective of their health status. It was also shown that, over a 12-month period, a similar percentage of healthy cats remained viraemic, and that the presence of viraemia did not appear to predispose the cats to the development of FIP. The co-cultivation system proved to be a suitable method for the culture of field strains of FCoV from blood samples, so long as the cultures were maintained for at least 4 weeks. Using this system, followed by the RT-PCR, viraemia was detected as frequently as by RT-PCR on RNA extracted directly from peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

Detection of feline kobuviruses in diarrhoeic cats, Italy

“…Kobuvirus RNA was detected by RT-PCR using a broadly reactive primer pair, UNIV-kobu-F/UNIV-kobu-R (Reuter et al, 2009a), which amplifies a 217-bp fragment of the 3D region of all kobuvirus species. The samples were also tested by PCR or RT-PCR for feline parvovirus (FPV) (Buonavoglia et al, 2001) and feline enteric coronavirus (FECV) (Gunn-Moore et al, 1998).…”

Morphologic Features and Development of Granulomatous Vasculitis in Feline Infectious Peritonitis

“…28 Despite the generally high prevalence of FCoV infection among the cat population, especially in multicat facilities, FIP morbidity is low and rarely surpasses 5%. 1,7,28 FIP seems to develop in the individual infected animal when FCoV acquires virulence by deletions in open reading frames 3 and 7, coding for nonstructural proteins of unknown function, which occur as mutations primarily during replication in the infected host. 39 Most infected cats develop an FCoV viremia that can be detected by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on isolated (and cultivated) monocytes regardless of the development of FIP.…”

“…39 Most infected cats develop an FCoV viremia that can be detected by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on isolated (and cultivated) monocytes regardless of the development of FIP. 7,15 FCoV- 1 Present address: Department of Veterinary Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK infected circulating monocytes are considered as responsible for viral dissemination within the host. 10,11,28,44 Furthermore, the demonstration of FCoV antigen within intravascular leukocytes and among cells in the lesions of vasculitis in a previous experimental study suggested that the infected monocyte mediates the development of FIP lesions.…”

Microbiology and Infectious Disease

“…15,37 Hyperproteinemia and polyclonal gammopathy (detected by electrophoresis; see Chapter 12) can occur, particularly in the noneffusive form. The most reliable means of identifying focal FeLV infections is virus isolation or PCR assay.…”