Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Feline enteric coronavirus infection and shedding of less infectious
By Desmarets, Lowiese M B et al.·Published in Scientific reports·2016·Department of Virology·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Experimental feline enteric coronavirus infection reveals an aberrant infection pattern and shedding of mutants with impaired infectivity in enterocyte cultures.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of three cats was experimentally infected with a strain of feline enteric coronavirus (FECV) to study how the virus behaves. Two of the cats showed mild symptoms and started shedding the virus in their feces after a few days, while the third cat had no noticeable symptoms but still had the virus in its blood. The virus shed by the symptomatic cats was less infectious due to mutations, and they developed a strong immune response over time. This research suggests that FECV can affect immune cells even without causing intestinal issues, leading to the emergence of mutated strains.
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Abstract
Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) results from mutations in the viral genome during a common feline enteric coronavirus (FECV) infection. Since many virological and immunological data on FECV infections are lacking, the present study investigated these missing links during experimental infection of three SPF cats with FECV strain UCD. Two cats showed mild clinical signs, faecal shedding of infectious virus from 4 dpi, a cell-associated viraemia at inconsistent time points from 5 dpi, a highly neutralising antibody response from 9 dpi, and no major abnormalities in leukocyte numbers. Faecal shedding lasted for 28-56 days, but virus shed during this stage was less infectious in enterocyte cultures and affected by mutations. Remarkably, in the other cat neither clinical signs nor acute shedding were seen, but virus was detected in blood cells from 3 dpi, and shedding of non-enterotropic, mutated viruses suddenly occurred from 14 dpi onwards. Neutralising antibodies arose from 21 dpi. Leukocyte numbers were not different compared to the other cats, except for the CD8(+) regulatory T cells. These data indicate that FECV can infect immune cells even in the absence of intestinal replication and raise the hypothesis that the gradual adaptation to these cells can allow non-enterotropic mutants to arise.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26822958/