Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Characterisation of canine parvovirus strains isolated from cats with feline panleukopenia.
- Journal:
- Research in veterinary science
- Year:
- 2010
- Authors:
- Decaro, Nicola et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Veterinary Public Health · Italy
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
In a study from 2008, researchers found two cases of parvovirus infection in cats, which is unusual because this virus typically affects dogs. One case involved a 3-month-old Persian kitten that showed severe symptoms of feline panleukopenia, including vomiting, diarrhea, and mouth sores, and sadly, it died eight days after getting sick. Two puppies from the same pet shop were found to carry a similar strain of the virus, suggesting they might have infected the kitten. The second case was a 2.5-month-old European shorthair kitten that had diarrhea but did not show severe symptoms and recovered. Both kittens had received vaccines meant to protect against common feline diseases, raising questions about how effective these vaccines are against new variants of the virus.
Abstract
Unlike the original canine parvovirus type 2 (CPV-2), CPV-2 variants have gained the ability to replicate in vivo in cats but there is limited information on the disease patterns induced by these variants in the feline host. During 2008, two distinct cases of parvoviral infection were diagnosed in our laboratories. A CPV-2a variant was identified in a 3-month-old Persian kitten displaying clinical sign of feline panleukopenia (FPL) (acute gastroenteritis and marked leukopenia) and oral ulcerations, that died eight days after the onset of the disease. Two pups living in the same pet shop as the cat were found to shed a CPV-2a strain genetically identical to the feline virus and were likely the source of infection. Also, non-fatal infection by a CPV-2c strain occurred in a 2.5-month-old European shorthair kitten displaying non-haemorrhagic diarrhoea and normal white blood cell counts. By sequence analysis of the major capsid protein (VP2) gene, the feline CPV-2c strain showed 100% identity to a recent canine type-2c isolate. Both kittens had been administered multivalent vaccines against common feline pathogens including FPL virus. Whether and to which extent the FPL vaccines can protect cats adequately from the antigenic variants of CPV-2 should be assessed.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20334885/