Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
PCR test of eye swabs to find feline leukemia virus in cats
By Aung, Hsu Po Po et al.·Published in The veterinary quarterly·2025·Faculty of Graduate Studies·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: PCR testing of conjunctival swabs to detect feline leukaemia virus in domestic cats in Thailand.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of domestic cats in Thailand were tested for feline leukemia virus (FeLV) using conjunctival swabs, which are samples taken from the eye area, to see if they could accurately detect the virus compared to traditional blood tests. The study found that the swabs were highly effective, with a 95.3% success rate in identifying the virus. This method could be especially useful for older cats, who were more likely to have a regressive form of the infection. The results suggest that conjunctival swabs can be a reliable alternative to blood tests for diagnosing FeLV in cats.
People also search for: cat eye problems · feline leukemia virus test · FeLV symptoms in cats · cat blood test alternatives
Abstract
This study aimed to classify the Feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) infection outcomes in domestic cats in Thailand and determine the accuracy of conjunctival swabs for FeLV proviral DNA detection by comparing results to PCR testing of blood samples. Whole blood and conjunctival swabs were collected from 126 cats with and without clinical signs. Blood specimens were evaluated for p27 FeLV antigen using the SNAP Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV)/FeLV Combo Test, IDEXX Laboratories. The 3'-LTR region of the proviral FeLV was amplified from both blood and conjunctival samples. The prevalence rates of progressive and regressive FeLV infections in this study were 14.3% (95% CI: 8.69-21.63) and 36.5% (95% CI: 28.12-45.55), respectively. Cats older than 12 months of age had a higher probability of being regressively infected than cats younger than 1 year (-value = 0.039, OR =0.294, 95% CI: 0.092-0.942). Conjunctival swabs used for detecting FeLV proviral DNA demonstrated a sensitivity of 95.3% (95% CI: 86.91-99.02) and a specificity of 100% (95% CI: 94.22-100.00) compared to conventional blood samples. The observed kappa value of 0.956 indicates that conjunctival swabs are reliable and can be used as an alternative to blood venipuncture.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40255021/