Chicago Tribune (CT) - SUNDAY March 15, 1987 Edition: FINAL EDITION Section: HOME Page: 14 Word Count: 438
Mary Daniels
The isolation of FTLV has implications for both veterinary and human medicine, says the Feb. 13 issue of Science magazine, which published the report on the virus.
The FTLV virus is "new in the sense this is the first time it has been isolated," says Dr. Janet K. Yamamoto, an assistant research immunologist at Davis' School of Veterinary Medicine.
Until now, feline leukemia virus (FeLV), because of its immunosuppressive properties, has been compared to human AIDS and is often referred to as "feline AIDS" or "FAIDS."
Researchers say FTLV is more closely related in terms of disease pathogensis to the human immunodeficient virus, or HIV, which causes human AIDS, than FeLV.
FTLV infection of cats has important implications for the study of human AIDS because it may prove a useful model for HIV research, Yamamoto says.
The virus appeared in a colony of cats consisting of 43 animals ranging from 6 months to 13 years of age, all of which were negative when tested for FeLV.
Disease problems were low in this cattery from 1968 to 1982, and very few animals died. A significant change in the pattern and severity of disease in this colony emerged in 1982 with the introduction of a 4-month-old female kitten.
This cat began having intermittent bouts of diarrhea at 7 months of age, developed a persistent chronic cold with sneezing and running eyes, and aborted a litter of kittens. She was thin and anemic and developed abnormal neurological behavior consisting of compulsive roaming and frequent movements of the mouth and tongue. Her gums were badly infected, and she lost many teeth from severe periodontal disease.
Other subsequently infected cats were either excessively thin, anemic and rough-coated or had one or more of a number of chronic infections or general chronic cold-like symptoms.
The importance of FTLV infection in cats is still unknown, but it may be substantial if the disease-causing potential of the virus in general cat populations is as great as it is in the cattery described in the report.
Preliminary studies on cats from unrelated households suggests that the infection is widespread.
"We are planning on a vaccine," Yamamoto says, adding that the National Institute of Health is interested in the work on FTLV.
FTLV is confined to the feline species. There is no evidence for cat-to- human or human-to-cat infection, the report says.
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