Latest News on FIP
Cat Litter To Fight The Coronavirus (FIP)?
12/2/2006
Dr. Addie has spent the last 18 years researching feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) and feline coronavirus infection (FCoV). She has been assessing the activity of various cat litters against feline coronavirus in the laboratory and has the results on a chart--scroll down page.
http://www.dr-addie.com/index.htm
Dr. Susan Little had this to say:
"It’s based on informal testing she has done. It has never been submitted to a journal, reviewed by peers, or duplicated by others. May be true, might not be, hard to say."
Susan Little, DVM
Diplomate ABVP (Feline)
Ottawa, Canada
President, Winn Feline Foundation
http://www.winnfelinehealth.org
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Date : 2004
Steve Dale / Unraveling Mysteries of FIP at Western Veterinary Conference
F – I – P are the three letters that horrify pet owners and veterinarians the most. Experts on the disease converged for a day long symposium at the 77th Annual Western Veterinary Conference, February 20 through 24 in Las Vegas, Nev.
The Western Conference is arguably the most prestigious and largest gathering of its kind, attracting over 14,000 medical professionals to discuss everything from the recent resurgence of rabies to advances in senior pet care. Just as we have a nation filled with aging people, the same is true for our pets. As far as anyone knows, President Bush isn't considering a government program to pay for their health care, and while incredible advances in veterinary medicine make it possible to pets to live longer quality lives, that cutting edge care doesn't come cheap. Other topics include cognitive dysfunction, a kind of doggy or kitty Alzheimer's, and advances in laser surgery and dentistry.
However, among all the topics – and there are hundreds to be discussed, FIP has captured the most interest. FIP or feline infectious peritonitis is the only major infectious disease of dogs and cats that eludes veterinary medicine. It is fatal. Worse, it kills mostly kittens.
"It's devastating, says Dr. Susan Little of Ottawa, Canada, a feline veterinarian who will be speaking at the FIP Symposium. "People have often suffered the death of an older cat; they finally muster the fortitude to go out and bring home a little kitty, and then FIP happens."
Little adds, "FIP is fascinating and challenging because it acts so different than most infectious diseases – it doesn't play by any of the rules."
Dr. Niels Pedersen of the University of California School of Veterinary Medicine at Davis might be called the father of virology and infectious diseases in cats. He's likely knows as much about FIP as anyone on the planet. He hasn't presented at a major vet conference in years, and this may be his farewell appearance, though he plans to continue to research the disease in his lab.
"When I fight an infectious disease, I consider it like waging war," he says. "I haven't ever had a more worthy opponent."
FIP is thought to be a freaky mutation of the corona virus. Most cats are exposed to the general corona virus (Pedersen says anywhere from 40 to 90 percent of pet cats). This is no big deal for the overwhelming majority of kitties, since the corona virus (which can cause the common cold in people) is typically asymptomatic in cats. In other words, the virus is so mild that most cats who get it usually never get sick. Some cats with the corona virus do get mildly ill for a day or two (they may throw up and have diarrhea).
However, for reasons still not fully understood, it's thought that in about two percent of cats with the common corona virus a sort of freaky mutation transforms the benign virus into the ravaging fatal autoimmune disease called FIP.
Pedersen notes a parallel to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that occurs in people. SARS is also a result of a mutation of the corona virus.
Pedersen is happy the SARS endemic is under control, but feels the corona virus can mutate anytime and cause another disease just as SARS came onto the scene overnight.
"We had an opportunity here because FIP does have parallels to SARS," he adds. "We need to understand more about the mutations of corona viruses."
One point Pedersen will make at the conference is that there is no single diagnostic test to determine if a cat has FIP in the first place.
Pedersen helped to develop a titer test (a kind of blood test) to determine if a cat has been exposed to the corona virus.
"The overwhelming majority of cats with the corona virus, of course, will never get FIP, so these (titer) tests are of limited value," reports Dr. Melissa Kennedy of the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, Knoxville. At the conference Kennedy revealed her detailed research on the various diagnostic tools used to determine if a cat has FIP. She talks about diagnosing FIP akin to building a brick wall. "Yes, a positive result of a titer (blood test) is one more brick on the wall, but just one brick," she says.
Pedersen agrees, adding some veterinarians still mistake a positive corona titer for an FIP diagnosis. That mistake may be fatal. If there's one thing worse than a cat succumbing to FIP, it's a cat that's euthanized who didn't turn out to have FIP after all.
Dr. Diane Addie from the University of Glasgow in Scotland presented on FIP at the North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando in January. She recommended feline interferon omega (or human interferon omega) to help treat the kitties diagnosed with the disease. However, her hopeful comments are controversial.
Pedersen says, "You might as well use chicken soup." He questions what little data there is to support the drugs' use, and worries about people having false hopes for recovery and the formidable expense of the medication. What's more, feline interferon is not approved in the U.S. and may be difficult to import.
"FIP is a very hot topic," says Little. "The good news is that today we understand far more about this complicated disease than we did only a few years ago. Are we near a cure? Well, no. Not really."
Little is also a vice president at the WINN Feline Foundation, a not for profit organization that funds research into feline health issues. She's hopeful that increasing attention from both the veterinary profession and the public will mean more dollars for research.
For more information about FIP, and also to learn more about the WINN Feline Foundation, log onto www.winnfelinehealth.org or call (732) 528-9797. If you have a cat you suspect has FIP, learn more at www.orionfoundation.com (where there are additional links).
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From Dr. Diane Addie
Many of you will be aware that it is now possible to detect Feline Coronavirus (FCoV) itself using a technique called RT-PCR (see What is RT-PCR?). In the UK, 155 cats, 7 dogs, 29 people and their veterinary surgeons all took part in a 5 year survey monitoring natural FCoV excretion using the RT-PCR developed at the University of Utrecht.
There are 4 possible outcomes of exposure to FCoV infection:
1. The kitten or cat develops FIP (around 10% of infections).
2. The vast majority of cats shed FCoV for a while, develop antibodies, stop shedding FCoV and their antibody titre returns to zero. 58% of FCoV shedding lasts up to one month and 95% of virus shedding lasts less than 9 months.
3. The cat becomes a lifelong FCoV carrier (13% of infected cats). These cats shed FCoV continually in their faeces and most remain perfectly healthy although some develop chronic diarrhoea.
4. Resistant cats – around 4% of cats appear to be completely resistant to FCoV infection, they don’t shed the virus and they mount an almost undetectable antibody response.
The results of the survey are as follows:
1. FCoV is very rarely shed in the saliva and it tends to be shed at the beginning of infection in those few cats who do excrete it in their saliva. Monitoring the saliva for virus shedding will therefore miss the majority of infected cats – so monitor the faeces.
2. A single faecal RT-PCR result on its own is meaningless: if the cat is intermittently shedding FCoV, by the day following sampling the cat may have changed from being a shedder to a non-shedder or vice versa. RT-PCR testing has to be part of a series of tests and is best accompanied by immunofluorescent antibody (IFA) testing because RT-PCR can be prone to both false positive results and false negative results.
3. To establish that a cat has eliminated FCoV infection, 5 consecutive negative monthly RT-PCR results on faeces are required. Alternatively, a reduction in FCoV antibody status to <10 indicates elimination of infection (IFA titre as measured by Glasgow University Veterinary School – see link to Companion Animal Diagnostics for downloading a submission form to submit a sample). One survey cat’s antibody titre only began to go down 25 months after she stopped shedding virus.
4. To establish that a cat is a lifelong FCoV carrier, he or she should have had continual positive RT-PCR results for a minimum of 8 months. A very few cats will cease shedding FCoV after 9 months, but 95% of shedding in our survey had stopped by then.
Life is more beautiful with cats!
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