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Pan-European Study on the Prevalence of the Feline Leukaemia Virus Infection - Reported by the European Advisory Board on Cat Diseases (ABCD Europe).

  • Studer N Clinical Laboratory, Department of Clinical Diagnostics and Services, and Center for Clinical Studies, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland. studer.nadine@bluewin.ch.
  • Lutz H Clinical Laboratory, Department of Clinical Diagnostics and Services, and Center for Clinical Studies, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland. Hans.Lutz@uzh.ch.
  • Saegerman C Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Research Unit of Epidemiology and Risk Analysis Applied to Veterinary, Fundamental and Applied Research for Animal and Health (FARAH) Center, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium. claude.saegerman@uliege.be.
  • Gönczi E Clinical Laboratory, Department of Clinical Diagnostics and Services, and Center for Clinical Studies, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland. enikoe.goenczi@kispi.uzh.ch.
  • Meli ML Clinical Laboratory, Department of Clinical Diagnostics and Services, and Center for Clinical Studies, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland. mmeli@vetclinics.uzh.ch.
  • Boo G Department of Geography, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland. gianluca.boo@soton.ac.uk.
  • Hartmann K Clinic of Small Animal Medicine, Centre for Clinical Veterinary Medicine, LMU Munich, 80539 Munich, Germany. Hartmann@uni-muenchen.de.
  • Hosie MJ MRC- University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, Glasgow G61 1QH, UK. Margaret.Hosie@glasgow.ac.uk.
  • Moestl K Institute of Virology, Department for Pathobiology, University of Veterinary Medicine, 1210 Vienna, Austria. karinmoestl@gmail.com.
  • Tasker S Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Bristol BS40 5DU, UK & Chief Medical Officer, Linnaeus Group, Shirley, Solihull B90 4BN, UK. s.tasker@bristol.ac.uk.
  • Belák S Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health (BVF), 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden. sandor.belak@slu.se.
  • Lloret A Fundació Hospital Clínic Veterinari, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain. albert.lloret@uab.es.
  • Boucraut-Baralon C Scanelis laboratory, 31770 Colomiers, France. corine.boucraut@scanelis.com.
  • Egberink HF University of Utrecht, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, 3584 CL Utrecht, Netherlands. H.F.Egberink@uu.nl.
  • Pennisi MG Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie, Università di Messina, 98168 Messina, Italy. mariagrazia.pennisi@unime.it.
  • Truyen U Institute of Animal Hygiene and Veterinary Public Health, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany. truyen@vetmed.uni-leipzig.de.
  • Frymus T Department of Small Animal Diseases with Clinic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Warsaw University of Life Sciences-SGGW, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland. tadeusz_frymus@sggw.pl.
  • Thiry E Veterinary Virology and Animal Viral Diseases, Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, FARAH Research Centre, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Liège University, B-4000 Liège, Belgium. Etienne.Thiry@ulg.ac.be.
  • Marsilio F Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Università degli Studi di Teramo, 64100 Teramo, Italy. fmarsilio@unite.it.
  • Addie D Veterinary Diagnostic Services, School of Veterinary Medicine, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G61 1QH, UK. draddie@catvirus.com.
  • Hochleithner M Tierklinik Strebersdorf, 1210 Vienna, Austria. hochleithner@gmail.com.
  • Tkalec F Veterinarska klinika Kreszinger, 10360 Sesvete, Zagreb, Croatia. ftkalec89@gmail.com.
  • Vizi Z University of Veterinary Medicine, 1078 Budapest, Hungary. vizizsu81@gmail.com.
  • Brunetti A School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G61 1QH, UK. Anna-Brunetti@idexx.com.
  • Georgiev B Institute of Biology and Immunology of Reproduction, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria. boykog@netbg.com.
  • Ludwig-Begall LF Veterinary Virology and Animal Viral Diseases, Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, FARAH Research Centre, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Liège University, B-4000 Liège, Belgium. lludwig@ulg.ac.be.
  • Tschuor F Kleintierklinik BolligerTschuor AG, Fachtierärzte für Kleintiere, 4665 Oftringen - Zofingen, Switzerland. ftschuor@bolligertschuor.ch.
  • Mooney CT School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. carmel.mooney@ucd.ie.
  • Eliasson C Jamaren - Swedish Veterinary Feline Study Group, 275 71 Lövestad, Sweden. catarina.eliasson@gmail.com.
  • Orro J Loomakliinik, 51014 Tartu, Estonia. janne@orrokliinik.ee.
  • Johansen H Bygholm Dyrehospital, 8700 Horsens, Denmark. helle.johansen@gmail.com.
  • Juuti K CatVet Kissaklinikka, 00400 Helsinki, Finland. kirsi.juuti@catvet.fi.
  • Krampl I Slovak Small Animal Veterinary Association, 821 02 Bratislava, Slovakia. info@savlmz.sk.
  • Kovalenko K Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Latvia University of Lifesciences and Technologies, LV-3004 Jelgava, Latvia. kkovalenko@inbox.lv.
  • Šengaut J Jakov Veterinary Centre, Gerosios Vilties g. 1, LT-03147 Vilnius, Lithuania. dr@vetmed.lt.
  • Sobral C Vetalmada, small animal clinic, 2800-052 Almada, Portugal. crisgouveiasobral@gmail.com.
  • Borska P Small Animal Emergency Clinic, 637 00 Brno-Jundrov, Czech Republic. petbor@post.cz.
  • Kovaříková S Department of Animal Protection, Welfare and Behavior, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic. kralovas@post.cz.
  • Hofmann-Lehmann R Clinical Laboratory, Department of Clinical Diagnostics and Services, and Center for Clinical Studies, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland. rhofmann@vetclinics.uzh.ch.
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  • 2019-11-02
Published in:
  • Viruses. - 2019
FeLV
RT-qPCR
gross domestic product at purchasing power parity per capita
prevalence
protective factors
retrovirus
risk factors
vaccination
veterinary sciences
virus shedding
Animals
Cat Diseases
Cats
Europe
Female
Leukemia Virus, Feline
Male
Prevalence
Prospective Studies
Protective Factors
Retroviridae Infections
Risk Factors
Saliva
Tumor Virus Infections
Viremia
English Feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) is a retrovirus associated with fatal disease in progressively infected cats. While testing/removal and vaccination led to a decreased prevalence of FeLV, recently, this decrease has reportedly stagnated in some countries. This study aimed to prospectively determine the prevalence of FeLV viraemia in cats taken to veterinary facilities in 32 European countries. FeLV viral RNA was semiquantitatively detected in saliva, using RT-qPCR as a measure of viraemia. Risk and protective factors were assessed using an online questionnaire to report geographic, demographic, husbandry, FeLV vaccination, and clinical data. The overall prevalence of FeLV viraemia in cats visiting a veterinary facility, of which 10.4% were shelter and rescue cats, was 2.3% (141/6005; 95% CI: 2.0%-2.8%) with the highest prevalences in Portugal, Hungary, and Italy/Malta (5.7%-8.8%). Using multivariate analysis, seven risk factors (Southern Europe, male intact, 1-6 years of age, indoor and outdoor or outdoor-only living, living in a group of ≥5 cats, illness), and three protective factors (Northern Europe, Western Europe, pedigree cats) were identified. Using classification and regression tree (CART) analysis, the origin of cats in Europe, pedigree, and access to outdoors were important predictors of FeLV status. FeLV-infected sick cats shed more viral RNA than FeLV-infected healthy cats, and they suffered more frequently from anaemia, anorexia, and gingivitis/stomatitis than uninfected sick cats. Most cats had never been FeLV-vaccinated; vaccination rates were indirectly associated with the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. In conclusion, we identified countries where FeLV was undetectable, demonstrating that the infection can be eradicated and highlighting those regions where awareness and prevention should be increased.
Language
  • English
Open access status
gold
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/global/documents/259033
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