Feline calicivirus

Abstract

-Feline calicivirus (FCV) is an important and highly prevalent pathogen of cats. It belongs to the family Caliciviridae which includes other significant pathogens of man and animals. As an RNA virus, high polymerase error rates convey upon FCV a high genome plasticity, and allow the virus to respond rapidly to environmental selection pressures. This makes the virus very adaptable and has important implications for clinical disease and its control. Being genetically diverse, FCV is associated with a range of clinical syndromes from inapparent infections to relatively mild oral and upper respiratory tract disease with or without acute lameness. More recently, highly virulent forms of the virus have emerged associated with a systemic infection that is frequently fatal. A proportion of FCV infected cats that recover from acute disease, remain persistently infected. In such cats, virus evolution is believed to help the virus to evade the host immune response. Such longterm carriers may only represent a minority of the feline population but are likely to be crucial to the epidemiology of the virus. Vaccination against FCV has been available for many years and has effectively reduced the incidence of clinical disease. However, the vaccines do not prevent infection and vaccinated cats can still become persistently infected. In addition, FCV strain variability means that not all strains are protected against equally. Much progress has been made in understanding the biology and pathogenesis of this important feline virus. Challenges for the future will necessarily focus on how to control the variability of this virus particularly in relation to emerging virulent strains and vaccination.

Epidemiological status of felid herpesvirus type-1 and feline calicivirus infections in Brazil

“…FCV virions are non-enveloped, with icosahedral capsids with 27 to 40nm in diameter and a single-stranded and positive polarity RNA as genome; and it belongs to the Vesivirus genus of the Caliciviridae family (RADFORD et al, 2007). The genome has approximately 7.7 Kb and is organized in three open reading frames (ORFs).…”

“…The regions B, D and F are conserved, whereas C and E are variable. Region E is subdivided into hypervariable regions (HVR_E; RADFORD et al, 2007RADFORD et al, , 2009). The genes encoding immunodominant epitopes are present in E region, inducing neutralizing antibodies in the host.…”

“…The genes encoding immunodominant epitopes are present in E region, inducing neutralizing antibodies in the host. These genes play a key role in immune evasion during persistent infection (RADFORD et al, 2007).…”

“…These two viruses account for approximately 80 to -REVIEW - 90% of the cases of URTD, although there is a greater involvement of FCV than FeHV-1 (GASKELL & KNOWLES, 1989). FCV also causes oral lesions, including ulcers, stomatitis and gingivostomatitis, and may also present as a highly fatal systemic disease (RADFORD et al, 2007). FeHV-1 can cause ocular lesions that may progress to glaucoma and corneal ulcers, and therefore blindness (GASKEL et al, 2007).…”

Comparative Virucidal Efficacy of Seven Disinfectants Against Murine Norovirus and Feline Calicivirus, Surrogates of Human Norovirus

“…Disinfectants are biocide substances that destroy microorganisms or inhibit their activity on inanimate objects or surfaces (McDonnell and Russell 1999). Previous studies (Doultree et al 1999;Duizer et al 2004a;Radford et al 2007) concluded that ethanol and quaternary ammonium-based products were ineffective disinfectants of FCV and the inactivation of FCV required high concentrations of sodium hypochlorite. MNV is sensitive both to alcohols and to bleach and its resistance to basic and acidic pHs as well as it longterm resistance at room temperature is higher than that of FCV (Cannon et al 2006;Belliot et al 2008;Park and Sobsey 2011).…”