Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Why FeLV blood tests can disagree in cats with blood problems
By Matthew R Kornya et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2023·View original on Semantic Scholar →
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Original publication title: Discordant FeLV p27 immunoassay and PCR test results in 21 cats with hematologic disorders
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of 21 cats with blood disorders tested positive for feline leukemia virus (FeLV) using a common test but negative for the virus's DNA with a more specific test. Most of these cats had other health issues affecting their bone marrow, such as autoimmune diseases or infections. Despite the initial positive FeLV test, 85.7% of these cats were able to go home from the vet, and many survived for months to years after treatment. Follow-up testing showed that once their primary health issues were managed, all retested cats came back negative for FeLV.
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Abstract
Case series summary A total of 1692 medical records from a primary care feline practice and a veterinary referral hospital were evaluated retrospectively to assess discordant feline leukemia virus (FeLV) test results. In total, 73 cats were positive for FeLV using serum in a lateral flow immunoassay (LFI) or laboratory-based ELISA. Of these cats, 21 subsequently tested negative for FeLV proviral DNA by non-quantitative PCR on EDTA whole blood (16/21, 76.2%), bone marrow (4/21, 19%) or both (1/21, 4.7%). The proportional morbidity (an estimate of prevalence in a sample of the total population) for FeLV by LFI/ELISA and PCR assays was 3.1%, consistent with that reported in previous studies for cats in North America. Cats with discordant LFI/ELISA and PCR results had either primary bone marrow disease (18 autoimmune, one neoplastic), a bone marrow insult (hemotrophic mycoplasmosis) or systemic inflammation (pyothorax with a marked neutrophilic leukocytosis). The percentage of cats with a positive LFA/ELISA result and negative PCR assay surviving to discharge was 85.7% (18/21). Of these, 88.9% (16/18) survived 4 months to 6 years. Seven cats (33.3%) were re-tested with LFI or ELISA once primary disease was controlled, and all tested negative. Relevance and novel information These findings indicate that in cats with bone marrow disease that shares features of progressive FeLV infection, positive LFI and ELISA FeLV test results should be followed up with FeLV proviral DNA PCR testing, particularly in populations where disease prevalence is low.
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Search related cases →Original publication on Semantic Scholar: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/37439634