Epidemiological Aspects and Clinicopathological Findings in Cats Naturally Infected with Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) and/or Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV)

Victorio M. Collado, Ana Domenech, Guadalupe Miró, Sonsoles Martin, Elena Escolar, Esperanza Gomez-Lucia

Departamento Medicina y Cirugía Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain.
Departamento Sanidad Animal Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain.

DOI: 10.4236/ojvm.2012.21003                

Abstract

Infections produced by feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and feline leukemia virus (FeLV), two of the most prevalent pathogens in cats, range from passing unnoticed to presenting a wide variety of clinical signs. Different epidemiological, clinical, hematological and virological parameters were analyzed in 78 FIV- and/or FeLV-infected cats. FeLV-infected (FeLV⁺) cats were considerably younger than FIV-infected (FIV⁺) cats, and in general were seen to have a more severe disease than FIV⁺ cats. Around one third of the cats presented anemia, and neutropenia was also frequently observed. Though a higher percentage of FIV⁺ than FeLV⁺ cats had altered leukocyte counts, FeLV⁺ cats had altered counts of both neutrophils and lymphocytes more frequently than FIV⁺, which usually presented only either altered neutrophils or lymphocyte counts. Virological markers were only detected in FeLV⁺cats, either as mono- or dual-infection, and correlated with the severity of the disease, but not in FIV⁺ cats. In conclusion, these results suggest that FeLV affects more blood cell types and provokes death of affected animals at a much earlier age than FIV and that the severity of the disease seemed to depend on the viral status of the cat.

Keywords

FIV; FeLV; Epidemiology; Hemogram; CD4:CD8 Ratio

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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