Abstract
This study describes the clinical course of an inadvertent feline herpesvirus, type 1 (FHV-1) outbreak in 2 specific pathogen-free (SPF) research and breeding colonies housing 690 cats and assesses a programme that was designed to eradicate the virus from the colonies. The clinical signs observed in these cats were milder, with more eye involvement than those previously described for FHV-1 infection and did not include abortion. FHV-1 eradication was based on the detection and elimination of both active and latent viral carriers. Carrier cats were detected by virus isolation from oral swabs before and after corticosteroid-induced reactivation of FHV-1 excretion. Four per cent of recovered cats were actively shedding virus prior to corticosteroid treatment; 21 % of the virus negative cats shed virus after one corticosteroid injection, and 12% of remaining culture negative cats tested positive upon a second corticosteroid treatment 6 weeks later. The colony remained virus free for 8 months after all detectable virus carriers were culled and there was no seroconversion among new kittens. A second epizootic of FHV-1 then occurred among susceptible animals. At this time, all breeding cats that had tested negative after 2 injections of corticosteroids were treated a third time; 23% of them now tested positive for FHV-1. This study demonstrates that corticosteroid treatment can be useful in improving the rate of detection, essential as a basis for decreasing the incidence of enzootic disease, but it is unlikely to detect all possible FHV-1 carriers in large populations of cats.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 320-329 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Laboratory Animals |
Volume | 28 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 1 1994 |
Keywords
- cats
- corticosteroids
- Feline herpesvirus type 1
- latent infection
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Animal Science and Zoology
- veterinary(all)