Author(s)

Victorio M. Collado, Ana Domenech, Guadalupe Miró, Sonsoles Martin, Elena Escolar, Esperanza Gomez-Lucia

Departamento Medicina y Cirugía Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain.
Departamento Sanidad Animal Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain.

Infections produced by feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and feline leukemia virus (FeLV), two of the most prevalent pathogens in cats, range from passing unnoticed to presenting a wide variety of clinical signs. Different epidemiological, clinical, hematological and virological parameters were analyzed in 78 FIV- and/or FeLV-infected cats. FeLV-infected (FeLV⁺) cats were considerably younger than FIV-infected (FIV⁺) cats, and in general were seen to have a more severe disease than FIV⁺ cats. Around one third of the cats presented anemia, and neutropenia was also frequently observed. Though a higher percentage of FIV⁺ than FeLV⁺ cats had altered leukocyte counts, FeLV⁺ cats had altered counts of both neutrophils and lymphocytes more frequently than FIV⁺, which usually presented only either altered neutrophils or lymphocyte counts. Virological markers were only detected in FeLV⁺cats, either as mono- or dual-infection, and correlated with the severity of the disease, but not in FIV⁺ cats. In conclusion, these results suggest that FeLV affects more blood cell types and provokes death of affected animals at a much earlier age than FIV and that the severity of the disease seemed to depend on the viral status of the cat.

FIV; FeLV; Epidemiology; Hemogram; CD4:CD8 Ratio

V. Collado, A. Domenech, G. Miró, S. Martin, E. Escolar and E. Gomez-Lucia, "Epidemiological Aspects and Clinicopathological Findings in Cats Naturally Infected with Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) and/or Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV)," Open Journal of Veterinary Medicine, Vol. 2 No. 1, 2012, pp. 13-20. doi: 10.4236/ojvm.2012.21003.