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Differential growth and transmission in cats of feline leukaemia viruses of subgroups A and B
Author(s) -
Jarrett Oswald,
Russell Peter H.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.2910210411
Subject(s) - cats , feline leukemia virus , virology , biology , transmission (telecommunications) , immunology , virus , medicine , electrical engineering , engineering
The outcome of infecting cats with FeLV of subgroups A (FeLV‐A) or B (FeLV‐B) was different. After FeLV‐A infection, virus was quickly recovered from the blood and oropharynx of most animals. Following infection with FeLV‐B, only a small proportion of cats developed a viraemia, and this after a long interval. There was no evidence that FeLV‐B was transmitted by contact. The result of infecting cats with mixtures of FeLV‐A and B (FeLV‐AB) was that to a large extent each virus operated independently. FeLV‐A was recovered from the plasma first, in a high proportion of the cats, and FeLV‐B appeared later but not in all cats. There was evidence of interaction, however, in that the proportion of cats which were viraemic with FeLV‐B was greater following FeLV‐AB infection than after infection with FeLV‐B alone; also FeLV‐B was transmitted by contact from cats excreting FeLV‐AB. These results help to explain the apparent dependence of FeLV‐B on FeLV‐A under natural conditions and the frequency of occurrence of subgroups A and B in FeLV isolates.